WA and ME Face Referenda To Repeal LGBT Rights

Both Maine and Washington state may face public votes to repeal advances in LGBT equality this fall. In Maine, the recently enacted marriage equality law is subject to a People's Veto if enough signatures (55,087) are gathered to put the following question on the ballot:

"Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"

In Washington, the recently enacted comprehensive domestic partnership law could be prevented from going into effect on July 26th if enough signatures are collected to support a referendum with this question:

Statement of Subject: The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners [and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill].

Concise Description: This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.

Should this bill be:

Approved ___

Rejected ___

It will be interesting to see if there is an impact on the movement to repeal Proposition 8 in 2010 oe 2012 is impacted upon these two anti-gay ballot measures that may happen in 2009.