AG’s Proposed Ballot Measure Includes Language Designed to Overturn Marriage Equality Law
Attorney General Rob McKenna released his proposed language for a ballot referendum designed to overturn the state’s newly enacted marriage equality law.
McKenna, a marriage equality opponent, used language that anti-marriage equality forces on the national level have designed and poll-tested to campaign for laws that uphold discrimination against same-sex couples.
“Rob McKenna is misusing his public office to advance his discriminatory views on marriage equality,” said Reesa Kossoff, communications director for the Washington State Democrats. “McKenna has confirmed that he would personally vote to overturn the law – and now is using his role as Attorney General to help take away rights that proponents of equality just won.”
McKenna’s referendum states: “The bill would redefine marriage to allow same-sex couples to marry, apply marriage eligibility requirements without regard to gender, and specify that laws using gender-specific terms like ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ include same-sex spouses.”
The National Organization for Marriage, one of the leading organizations fighting against marriage equality, suggests that a sentence using “redefining marriage” is the single most effective message to use in the fight to preserve discrimination. Nowhere in the text of the marriage equality law does the phrase “redefining marriage” appear.