Washington state is the newest battleground for gay marriage, with a referendum organized by opponents now set for November.
The state’s same-sex marriage law, passed by the legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire earlier this year, was originally supposed to go into effect last week. But anti-gay marriage advocates successfully put the measure on hold when they submitted enough signatures under the state’s referendum process to trigger a November vote on whether to keep the law.
The referendum comes on top of two other key contests for gay marriage, all three happening in Democratic-leaning states. One is in Maryland, where a similar referendum seeking to overturn the state’s legalization that was passed by the legislature and Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, is also set for a November vote.
The other is in Minnesota, where same-sex marriage has not been legalized, in which the Republican-led legislature has sent a state constitutional amendment to voters in November, seeking to officially ban it. A recent survey from Public Policy Polling showed the ban was losing support.
In Washington, the secretary of state’s office announced Tuesday that 247,331 signatures were submitted to trigger the referendum, more than double the required amount. A random sample of 3 percent of the signatures was conducted to confirm that there were enough valid signatures, with 6,877 accepted out of the 7,561 that were tested.
In order to hold a referendum on a law that was passed by the Washington legislature, organizers had to gather signatures equal to at least 4 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last election.
