Archive for the ‘Washington’ Category

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against anti-equality groups who sought to overturn Washington’s law providing for disclosure of signatories to an initiative or referendum petition. The case, Doe v. Reed, arose from the Referendum 71 campaign in November 2009, which unsuccessfully sought to repeal part of Washington’s comprehensive domestic partnership law. The petitioners argued that the disclosure law violated their First Amendment rights and public scrutiny of their signatures would result in harassment and intimidation by those who support LGBT equality.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Doe v. Reed, a case that arose out of the Referendum 71 fight in Washington last fall where opponents of equality were ultimately unsuccessful in rolling back the state’s “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law at the ballot box. The anti-LGBT group that proposed the referendum sued to hide the names of the petition signers responsible for qualifying the measure for the ballot.

In a victory for students, last week the Washington State Senate passed HB 2801, a bill to address bullying and harassment of students in public schools — including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  The Senate vote was 48 – 0 and the bill had previously passed the House 97 – 0.  Governor [...]

In the Equality in the Courts blog series, HRC attorneys discuss news and break down the legal theories in Supreme Court and federal court cases. This post is from Mike Wilson, HRC’s Staff Counsel for Special Projects:
On January 15, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Doe No. 1 v. Reed, [...]

Yesterday Washington State officials (Governor Gregoire and Secretary of State Reed) certified the results of Referendum 71 — the measure that asked voters to approve or reject a comprehensive domestic partnership law passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor earlier in the ear.  Voters approved the law in November’s elections and now same-sex [...]

Although signs looked good on Election Night, it’s now official… news organizations have called the race over Referendum 71 (the proposed expansion of domestic partner protections) for the Approve side!
Domestic partners in Washington State now have the state-level rights and responsibilities afforded to married couples, and all families are that much safer.  Congratulations to the Approve [...]

From HRC’s organizer in Washington State:
Volunteers here in Seattle are still on the phones making sure Washingtonians head to the polls in Pierce county or to one of the many drop sites across the state. Seattle’s numbers will be reported around 8:15PM PST tonight. Since most of the state is mail-in only, most of the [...]

In King County (where Seattle is located), voting turnout was only at 20 percent going in to Election Day, so it’s great to see lines at the King County Administration building in Seattle where one of several Election Day drop off boxes are located. Many more people are likely to turn in their ballots last [...]

A report from HRC’s organizer Adrian Matanza in Washington State:
After weeks of identifying voters, today is the day to turn in those mail in ballots. After calling voters until 9pm last night, APPROVE Referendum 71 volunteers and I are up early and waving signs to morning commuters making their way to work on election day.
We [...]

Two updates from HRC organizers out in the field on election eve…
Adrian Matanza in Washington State:
In the last 48 hours before the election deadline, I will be working on turning out voters to vote APPROVE on Referendum 71. Working with volunteers across the state in our HQ, satellite offices and from home calling voters to [...]