Brad Shannon:
The Politics Blog

Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.

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Anti-R-71 ads invoke biblical images, 'God's mandate'

• Published October 08, 2009

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Religious conservatives have put together their first video ads against Referendum 71's expansion of rights for registered domestic partners in Washington. It�s on the Protect Marriage Washington web site here and here.

The ad, which might never make it to television because of a lack of money, invokes images straight out of a Christian Sunday school lesson with a narration that runs like this:

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth, and formed man, and he made a woman and brought her to the man. Thus God established and defined marriage between a man and a woman. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Senate Bill 5688 violates God's mandate. On Nov. 3, vote to preserve marriage and protect our children on Referendum 71. Reject Senate Bill 5688. Paid for by Protect Marriage Washington."

Supporters of the domestic partners law denounced the ad for its misleading message linking R-71 to same-sex marriage. Senate Bill 5688, which is the law put up for a vote Nov. 3 through R-71, would expand rights given to domestic partners on the state registry to include all of the roughly 400 state rights conferred upon married couples, including use of sick leave to care for an ill partner.

SB 5688 (R-71) confers the rights on both sex couples or heterosexual couples with one partner at least age 62. But it confers none of the 1,100 additional federal rights given to married couples. And it does not allow marriage licenses to be granted to those registered domestic partners who are same-sex couples.

Anne Levinson, chair of the Approve 71 campaign, said:

"The people behind this ad have a history of working on extremist causes that are out of step with the views of mainstream Washingtonians. And they haven't been letting the facts get in their way. This ad is very disrespectful to the thousands of families in our state for whom the domestic partnership law provides important legal protections. The law has nothing to do with marriage, they are trying to mislead voters. It's par for the course. Instead they should be honest with voters and let them know if they vote to reject they will be taking away the protections such as sick leave and social security."

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