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Gay rights measure headed to rare victory in Washington state

Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published November 05, 2009

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Ballot counts Wednesday showed Washington's same-sex partnership law passing with twice the margin of victory it had on election night, and one key leader in the movement declared victory.

A large count from King County and other jurisdictions such as Thurston County expanded the measure’s advantage to about 38,000 votes in the evening. Additional counts are planned today and Friday in most jurisdictions.

"These results so far track with what we were expecting to see," Approve 71 campaign co-chairwoman Anne Levinson said Wednesday. "These numbers would reflect that Washington would be the first state in the nation to affirmatively vote to support domestic partnerships."

"Today is a great day of celebration for the tens of thousands of gay and lesbian families in Washington, and for anyone who supports equality in our state and around the country," added state Sen. Ed Murray, a gay Seattle Democrat who sponsored domestic-partnership legislation passed by the Legislature. An effort to repeal the legislation was forced onto the ballot as R-71 by social conservatives who disagree with the policy and said it opens the door to same-sex marriage.

"We haven’t yet walked through the gate to the promised land of full marriage equality. But, with yesterday's vote, that gate seems more open than it was yesterday, and our goal seems closer to reality than ever," Murray said in a statement.

Spokesmen for the Protect Marriage Washington campaign did not return a call seeking comment. But a spokesman for the Family Policy Council of Washington, which donated money to a political committee that ran Reject 71 radio ads, said no one was conceding.

"I think we're too new to the mail-in-ballot game to really have a chance to know," said Joseph Backholm, executive director for the Policy Council, a Lynnwood-based group that stepped in last month and gave the opposition forces a lift. "If I'm being impartial, I'd rather be them than me (given the numbers). But I think there are still enough ballots outstanding."