Anti-Gay Referendum 71: Washington State Officials Sanction Voter Deception

Anti-Gay Petitions Circulating in Washington State Have Finally Surfaced to the Anger of Gay Community.  Secretary of State's Office Goes on Record Defending the State's Policy of Allowing "Lies" and Deception To Be Printed on Actual Petition Sheets

You are reading this correctly.  Thanks to our friends over at The Stranger for their in depth reporting on Referendum 71, the ballot initiative that would repeal Washington's expanded Domestic Partnership Law, LGBT are getting probably the clearest look to date of a corrupt system that has had great successes nationwide in stripping rights away from and hurting countless families. 

Voter deception, fraud and bait and switch run rampant in signature collection for ballot initiatives. Usually petition sponsors pass that liability onto "paid signature gathering firms" such as now are being used to collect signatures for the Anti-Gay Referendum in Maine and had been in Massachusetts back in 2005 where any charges of mis-conduct can easily be brushed off as the sponsor's inability to control "the sub-contracted labor's sub-contracted labor" hired to collect signatures.  But Washington is the first state that these lies clearly meant to deceive are allowed by law to be printed on the actual petition sheets.  David Ammons, the Washington Secretary of State's spokesman told The Stranger, "The state supreme court has said you can lie in campaign utterances and campaign materials.  We have no jurisdiction over extra words and sales pitches that sponsors choose to put in petitions."  

"Extra words and sales pitches," I guess, is "Olympia Nice" for voter fraud.  A ballot initiative intending to reverse Domestic Partnership Protection in Washington being sold to voters as a referendum to "protect marriage as between one man and one woman,"  especially since in Washington same-sex marriage is illegal, is clearly fraud.  And so is the other "highlight" of Ref 71, "If same-sex marriage becomes law, public schools K-12 will be forced to teach that same-sex marriage and homosexuality are normal...even over the objections of parents.  Sign R-71 to protect children."  Look to the full report on The Stranger for photos and breakdown.

So where is the outrage from the LGBT community?  We may not see any from the leadership at Equality Washington as this campaign to protect LGBT families was described to me as intended to be a quiet one, meant not to upset the Washingtonians who are "nice on the outside" but on the inside allegedly much different.  KnowThyNeighbor.org has never experienced systemic criticisms this severe for daring to suggest that signing a public petition which would take away rights from and hurt families comes with a "social responsibility" of ownership of that act.  Those criticisms stemmed not only from a clearly fore-warned Josh Friedes of Equality Washington but from members of the press as well as the Secretary of State's office.  One journalist actually told me emphatically that it was my job to talk to people about gay and lesbian headed families, however, it was not my job to educate voters on the initiative petition process.  Steve Excell, the Assistant Secretary of State for Washington, in a telephone conversation told me that the SOS has no intention of pursuing a lawsuit against KnowThyNeighbor.org for posting the names of Ref 71 signers as it is common practice for political parties and special interest groups to request and receive the same information.  However, KTN's strategy "does not work well in (our) state even though it works elsewhere."  Excell said and that he does not want Washington voters "to be embarrassed" by finding their names on our website.  "Embarrassed??" such as those Washingtonians who find themselves for whatever reason in hard times and unable to pay their taxes and can be seen on this state website? 

Washington voters should be embarrassed to put their names on Referendum 71 for two reasons.  First and most importantly because Referendum hurts families, there is no debating that fact, but secondly because Ref 71 is the child of a system that allows for Washington voters to be misled, lied to, and outright deceived--legally.  Washington voters should be equally outraged as well as should the gay community that neither state legislators nor Equality Washington have protected voters by reforming Washington's initiative process.  The Secretary of State's Office told KnowThyNeighbor.org that we are not welcome because it wants to insure the "integrity and protect the initiative process."  A few days later Josh Friedes of Equality Washington cautioned us about criticizing the lies on the Ref 71 petition sheet as he put it, "many Progressives (in this state) use the petition system too..."   You draw the conclusion.

One thing is for sure now that this overtly demonstrative anti-gay petition sheet surfaced spewing its lies in bold print before Washington voters, that the dynamic of signers has changed.  No one signing this gets a pass anymore because he or she "just wants to put every petition before the voters"  or that they did not understand the intent of Referendum 71.  So much for "integrity" Mr. Secretary.

Tom Lang, Director

Comments

[John Hosty-Grinnell]

No one should get a pass Tom. People need to be informed on their actions and their consequences before they take them, especially when it is as important as government. The ramifications of allowing this wording on a petition are terrific.

[The Patriot]

Greatjob WA

LANGS' HATE FEST CONTINUES

Give it up

[The Patriot]

how's that Obama working out for ya?
How's that DOMA thing working out?

[John Hosty-Grinnell]

"Hi, I saw your green card handout and wanted to notify you that my
lover- a 37 years old transgender male was beaten by four young women at
Government Center last night at about 8pm after Gay Pride receiving a
black eye and scratches"

The legacy of hate continues...

[The Patriot]

Its a lie and exaggerated BS. Where are the news stories Hosty?

[The Patriot]

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_269093929?page=0

[The Patriot]

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_270115756

[AmericanSDL.com]

So if anyone disagrees with the LGBT or says no to the LGBT they are haters, backwards, uninformed, just to use some of the nicer things you'll call them. How civilized. I especially like the way you threaten people, the Gestapo would be green with envy. You see the biggest problem I have with Gay marriage is that it will allow for multiple partner marriages. Because honestly how can you discriminate against multiple partner marriage (MPM) when they use all the same reasons as those who a pro-gay marriage. MPM people love each other, MPM people care for each other too, and there is actually a massive amount of precedence, historically for MPM. So please tell me what will be the LGBT justitification for discriminating against MPM people. I believe that MPM will be the biggest civil rights issue in the next ten years because that's how long it'll take to put down all the haters, right.

[John Hosty-Grinnell]

AmericanSDL.com, let me know when you have multiple reports each week of GLBT people attacking heterosexuals who are peacefully going about their daily routines.

Until you can acknowledge the wrongs society does to GLBT people don't expect to be taken too seriously with these trivial matters you bring up. Honestly, the slippery slope argument? You can't do better than that?!

[MH]

oh how i just luuuuuuv seeing all you poor breeders out there squirming away and gettin' caught lying left and right! LMAO! Oh what would jeeeebus do indeed! LMFAO!

[T. Beers]

I voted for gay rights. I am a straight male.

I would proudly sport a bumper sticker that said " Straight guy for gay rights"

[John Hosty-Grinnell]

Thanks for the kind words T. Beers. The world is better with people like you voicing their opinions. The fear of ridicule has kept so many silent for so long; it's nice to see there's still some courage left our there in our country. Undoubtedly your children will grow up knowing that fairness is one of the most important things to believe in and support.

Best wishes to you, and thanks again.

[The Patriot]

Hey T-Beers, I guess you like to intimidate people and threaten them with violence too;

Pressure tactics subvert dialogue
Gloucester Daily Times

Those who call for parents to be allowed to know what their children are being taught in public school are purveyors of "hate speech."

That is the absurd message from Know Thy Neighbor, a pro-gay marriage group that, sadly, relies on intimidation rather than dialogue to promote its dogmatic philosophy that anybody who disagrees is a "hater."

Sadder still, the group's intimidation tactics have now shut down a chance for dialogue in Gloucester between those of different views.

Cape Ann Marriage and Family, a group that has been active in seeking a statewide referendum on gay marriage, had planned a meeting this Saturday at Valentino's, a Main Street pizza parlor, that was to feature a lecture by David Parker of Lexington.

Parker is suing the state for the right to be notified when issues regarding sexuality, including gay marriage, are taught in his young son's school. His case was initially dismissed but is on appeal.

His complaint arose in 2005, when his 5-year-old son came home from school with a children's book that portrayed families headed by same-sex couples.

This, in the view of Know Thy Neighbor's Tom Lang, of Manchester, means that Parker finds "the mere existence of gay people" to be harmful to children - a vast distortion of Parker's complaint.

Lang contacted Armando Marnoto, co-owner of Valentino's, and told him that if the restaurant hosted the meeting, Know Thy Neighbor might organize a protest.

There is some dispute about why the event will not happen there. Marnoto says it is because Cape Ann Marriage and Family had not confirmed the event or made a deposit. The group says it was due to pressure from Know Thy Neighbor.

But the Know Thy Neighbor tactic is typical. During the petition drive seeking to put gay marriage on the ballot, the group posted on its Web site the names of those who signed the petition. Lang claimed this had nothing to do with intimidation - a laughable assertion, since the whole idea was to help gay marriage advocates accuse any neighbors who supported the referendum of being haters.

Lang and others who object to Parker's message have every right to protest and oppose that message. But if they truly think they have a convincing case to make, they could do it much better by arguing the merits, rather than waving signs that hurl blanket epithets at those who disagree with them.

The glory of free speech is hearing all sides of an issue, not trying to shout down one side or another with absurd insults.

One wonders what Lang would do if his own young son came home with a book from school that declared that the only legitimate families were those headed by a father and a mother. Surely he would demand to know what his son was being taught, so he could argue his own case.

The issue, on the surface, is about gay marriage. But the deeper issue is parental rights. The topics could be war and peace, the environment, gun control or any of a host of others.

Does Know Thy Neighbor really think parents should have no right to know what their children are being taught in school? If so, that is a debate well worth having.

It is sad that it won't happen because some would rather intimidate than debate.

[ryan charisma]

Wow,

That's an awful lot of half-truths there Patriot.

Lying makes the baby Jesus cry.

[The Patriot]

LET THE PEOPLE VOTE!

[John Hosty-Grinnell]

Patriot, you have been working too hard, take a vacation from blogging... I insist! :)

[MH]

WOW! Is this a-hole Jameison still whining after 5 years?!? LMAO!

[John Hosty-Grinnell]

OK folks, I've unblocked Patriot. Our policy here at KTN is one of inclusion for everyone, those who disagree with us angrily are no exception. We've had time to grieve over our loss in Maine in peace, now it's back to work confronting our neighbors with the truth.

I know some of you don't agree with this policy, feel free to vent if you desire.