By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A U.S. District Court has issued a temporary order preventing the release of the names of citizens who signed a petition in support of a marriage referendum in the state of Washington after groups in favor of same-sex marriage threatened to publish the names on the internet.
Backers of the referendum who are seeking to protect traditional marriage in the state asked the Court to prevent the release of the names of the petition signers, arguing that the First Amendment allows them to sign a petition without having to publicly release their names. The Court agreed.
A group in favour of traditional marriage, Protect Marriage Washington, provided the Court with many instances where people who supported traditional marriage in California during last year’s contentious Proposition 8 ballot initiative had their names publicly revealed, which led to destroyed property, harassing phone calls and even death threats.
“The situation in Washington is part of a larger, concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation of supporters of traditional marriage by the gay rights lobby,” said James Bopp, Jr., lead counsel for the Plaintiffs.
“The campaign has involved gaining access to the names of pro-marriage supporters, posting their names and addresses on the Internet, and inviting people to contact them. This has triggered hundreds of cases of harassment, vandalism and threats of violence directed at marriage supporters throughout the nation. Such personal attacks occurred in large numbers after the adoption of Proposition 8 in California last November.”
The Washington Secretary of State argued that the names had to be released because of the Washington Public Records Act. Many of the groups who sought the release of the names openly admitted that they intended to post them on the internet.
“This order will stop several groups from using the petitions to harass and intimidate individuals who were merely exercising their First Amendment right to sign a petition,” Mr. Bopp said.
He added: “No one should have to suffer vandalism and death threats just because they support government protection of traditional marriage,” Mr. Bopp said. “Keeping the petition signatures confidential will protect these people from the harassment and intimidation that has now so frequently characterized the response of the gay rights lobby.”
The order preventing the release of the names of the petition signers will remain in effect until the Court makes a permanent ruling.
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