Opponents of Washington state's gay
marriage law say they will turn in their signatures for Referendum 74
on Wednesday.
The AP quoted Joseph Backholm as saying
that the signatures will be turned in to the secretary of state's
office at 9AM Wednesday morning. Backholm is the executive director
of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, a leading voice in
Preserve Marriage Washington, the coalition of groups working to
repeal the law.
Opponents must turn in 120,577 valid
signatures by June 6 to block the law's start. The group said it had
collected nearly 200,000 signatures. Officials recommend that
campaigns submit 150,000 signatures to head off invalid or duplicate
entries.
Supporters of the law said they always
expected opponents to put it up to a popular vote.
“We always expected them to reach the
number,” said Zach Silk, a spokesman for Washington United for
Marriage, the coalition of groups working to preserve the law.
“We've been preparing our campaign to talk to voters. We believe
at the end of the day they'll side with us to uphold the law.”
Voters in 2009 rejected an effort to
repeal a domestic partnership law which gave gay couples all the
protections of marriage.