The Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce
has endorsed Referendum 74, the Washington state ballot question
which would uphold the state's gay marriage law.
The marriage law, which was approved by
lawmakers at the urging of Governor Chris Gregoire, was set to take
effect last month but it was put on hold when opponents turned in
more than twice the number of signatures needed to put the law up to
a public vote in November.
The Chamber's Board of Trustees adopted
a resolution in support of Referendum 74 on Wednesday.
“There is a clear business case for
supporting equal access to civil marriage rights,” said George
Allen, senior vice president of Government Relations for the Chamber.
“Marriage equality allows our companies to streamline benefit
administration, improves our ability to recruit and retain the best
talent, and helps our state's bottom line.”
The Chamber represents 2,200 companies
across the Puget Sound region.
On Monday, Washington United for
Marriage, the campaign to keep marriage equality, announced it has
raised more than $2 million. Opponents seeking to overturn the law
have raised $139,702 as of the end of June, but said they plan to
raise $4 million.
(Related: Microsoft's
Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer support Washington gay marriage.)