Activist spreads a warning about R-71

YAKIMA -- The campaign manager for opposition to Referendum-71 was in Yakima Friday for what he said is the "nuts and bolts" phase of the campaign to overturn a law passed this spring granting a wide array of benefits to same-sex couples.

Larry Stickney, of Protect Marriage Washington, said the organization is busy distributing 100,000 pieces of literature and yard signs urging voters to reject R-71 as an assault on the institution of marriage.

"Our contention is the majority of Washingtonians are not comfortable with this," Stickney said in an interview.

R-71 asks voters to approve or reject a law that extends marriage-like benefits to gay and lesbian couples as well as some heterosexual seniors registered as domestic partners under state law.

Stickney said the law is a "Trojan horse" for the legalization of marriage between gays and lesbians. He said it will lead to the disintegration of the family, inhibit pastors from preaching against homosexuality and result in a Scandinavian-style society with "negative outcomes for children who lack both a mother and a father in their homes."

Stickney, 51, of Arlington, is the president of Washington Values Alliance, which he founded last year after serving as the executive director of the conservative Family Policy Institute of Washington.

Stickney, who earlier taped a show for Christian Broadcasting of Yakima, said his group is not motivated by hate or hostility toward gays and lesbians.

Josh Friedes, campaign manager for Washington Families Standing Together, a coalition of organizations that support the domestic partnership law, said the conversation should be about protecting basic rights of families. The law, for example, allows the gay or lesbian partner of a police officer killed in the line of duty to receive death benefits. The law also protects heterosexual seniors who can lose their nest eggs when they marry after being widowed.

"I'll leave it to the people to decide whether it's hateful to take away basic protections from Washingtonians," Friedes said.

R-71 was certified for the November ballot earlier this month after a Thurston County judge dismissed the arguments of gay-rights supporters that petitions carrying tens of thousands of signatures were improperly signed. There is an ongoing court battle over whether those who signed petitions to get the measure on the ballot can be publicly disclosed.

Earlier this week, five companies came out for approving R-71. The Boeing Co., Microsoft Corp., Nike, Puget Sound Energy, RealNetworks and Vulcan Inc. said in a statement that, "Overturning this law would undo years of equal rights progress made in Washington state. We do not believe that this step backward would be in the best interest for the future of our state."

Stickney said the companies are pressured by "the power of money, the governor and the media" to support domestic partnerships. He also said they fear being boycotted by gay-rights groups.

"The Puget Sound area is a formidable force," he said.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com .