Approve Referendum 71

In Washington state, we have a referendum up for vote called referendum 71. The premise of this particular referendum is to protect domestic partnerships in WA state. For more info about why I'm for approving this particular referendum, see Vote Approve on Ref 71.

I have a little bit of a history with this particular referendum. Earlier this year, I was outside gardening when my neighbor came over. She came over with her two sons, whom I mostly recognize because they are very polite and always ring our doorbell when their ball flies over our fence and ask whether they can go into the back yard to get it. I attended a 4th of July potluck with neighbors from our cul de sac over a year ago, and met the whole family. They are a very nice, albeit quite religious, family. Anyway, back to the day of gardening. My neighbor asks me whether I'm registered to vote, and I answer yes. She asks whether I will sign a petition for a referendum in our upcoming election, and I say yes without even thinking about it. This is because I have always had a belief that any referendum, no matter how much I agree or disagree with it, should at least be put up to vote if enough people sign the petition to put it up for vote. This is a great right. When I ask her what referendum it is, she gives me a little background mostly saying that they feel this particular issue should taken to the voters and not just approved by the WA state legislature. As I looked at the sign sheet with big letters of "Protect Families", I could feel myself start to get on the soapbox, and want to give them a good piece of my mind about how it doesn't matter what their religion says, the law is separate. But then I stopped. And I signed it anyway. And L. signed it, too. Not because we want the domestic partnership rights taken away, but because we believe in those rights and want our friends and family to have them. Of course, this is a gamble in part that the referendum will have enough supporters to back it and approve it. And it looks like it might...it's a bit hard to say. I keep praying that it does pass so that we can say that voters passed it, and not just that our legislature supported it to begin with. For some reason, I just didn't feel like getting into it with them. I'm totally fine with people believing in their religion, I just hate it when they want to impose that in law. But, I have to live across the street from these people, and I know from experience how awful things are when you're at odds with a neighbor.

As with anything political, there have been a lot of ads on either side of the issue. But the anti ref 71 ads always crack me up, as they come from that angle of "protecting families." I put this in quotes because I'm not really sure what they are trying to protect families from. Unless you're in a domestic partnership yourself, this particular law has little, if anything, to do with your personal life. What it does grant is couples the right to form committed relationships and have the same rights that are currently granted to married couples. The fact that married couples receive any special recognition or consideration by the government is already violating the separation of Church and State that is so important to our country. So, allowing domestic partnerships is just one way to kind of even out the imbalance, as far as I can see.

Let the individual religions and churches figure out whether "marriage" is between one man and one woman, but let all couples, regardless of gender, enter into partnerships that are recognized by the government as legal, binding commitments. It's only fair.

[Update: I'm seriously rethinking my dedication to signing any and all petitions for referenda. Methinks I may start signing only petitions that I agree with. Not sure...]