Macklemore & Lewis "Same Love" Gets Grammy Nod for Song of the Year

The Grammy nominations were announced Friday night and one of the key results was the nomination of the gay marriage anthem "Same Love" by Macklemore & Lewis in the Song of the Year category. In fact, Macklemore & Lewis received 7 nominations overall, 2 behind the leader Jay-Z and tied with Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell Williams. Macklemore & Lewis are named in three of the top four categories.

RECORD OF THE YEAR
"Get Lucky" - Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams
"Royals" - Lorde
"Locked Out Of Heaven" - Bruno Mars
"Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
"The Blessed Unrest" - Sara Bareilles
"Random Access Memories" - Daft Punk
"Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" - Kendrick Lamar
"The Heist" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
"Red" - Taylor Swift 

SONG OF THE YEAR
"Just Give Me A Reason" - Jeff Bhasker, Pink & Nate Ruess, songwriters
(Pink Featuring Nate Ruess)
"Locked Out Of Heaven" - Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine & Bruno Mars,
songwriters (Bruno Mars)
"Roar" - Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Katy Perry & Henry
Walter, songwriters (Katy Perry)
"Royals" - Joel Little & Ella Yelich O'Connor, songwriters (Lorde)
"Same Love" - Ben Haggerty, Mary Lambert & Ryan Lewis, songwriters
(Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Mary Lambert) 

BEST NEW ARTIST
James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran

It would be very cool if "Same Love" won song of the year when the winners are announced, on January 26, 2014.

The Future of Marriage Equality: Nate Silver Predicts

Poll guru and data cruncher extraordinaire Nate Silver has decided to use the occasion of the recent Gaytterdämmerung (oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court of not one but two caes involving gay rights and marriage equality) to analyze recent polls about marriage equality, finally reveal what his predictions were for the 2012 marriage equality ballot measures and make some future predictions about how marriage equality would fare at the ballot box in 2016 and beyond.

Silver's model predicts that the four states (Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota) which voted on the side of marriage equality in November 2012 would have done so, including 16 others. More interestingly, the model also has predictions for 2016. If one assumes a linear relationship between the 2012 and 2016 results one can interpolate a 2014 prediction as well.

Note that Silver's predictions for the results in 2012 are greater than the actual results that occurred at the ballot box for Maryland (55.0% predicted versus 52.4% actual; +2.6), Minnesota (52.3% predicted versus 51.2% actual; +1.1), Washington (55.7% predicted versus 53.7% actual; +2.0) but not Maine (51.1% predicted versus 51.5% actual; -0.4).

But his model also has good news for LGBT activists who may want to move forward with a pro-marriage equality measures in California and Oregon in 2014. A linear interpolation would indicate that California's measure would pass with approximately 57.5% of the vote while Oregon's would pass with 56.8%. Oregon's measure is much more likely to actually appear on the 2014 ballot than California's.

Another thing to notice about the list of states is that Rhode Island is at the top of the list, yet that state has not enacted marriage equality yet. Other states, like Illinois and Delaware, which are considering marriage equality legislation this year are also well into the blue territory of majority support for marriage equality.

The future of marriage equality is blue skies ahead!

Celebrity Friday: Jim Nabors Marries Male Partner

Jim Nabors, the former star of the television show Gomer Pyle, USMC has come out as openly gay and married his longtime male partner in Washington on January 15, it was reported recently. Nabors, 82, and Scott Cadwallader, 64, have been together for 38 years (when they were 26 and 44!) and travelled from their home in Hawaii to marry in Seattle soon after it became legal thanks to the passage of Referendum 74 in the November 2012 elections, according to Hawaii News:

A judge performed the marriage ceremony in the privacy of their hotel room with a couple of friends who live down the street from them near Diamond Head as witnesses, Nabors said. 

Before they were married, Nabors said, "It's pretty obvious that we had no rights as a couple, yet when you've been together 38 years, I think something's got to happen there, you've got to solidify something.  And at my age, it's probably the best thing to do." 

Nabors said he met Cadwallader in 1975 when Cadwallader was a Honolulu fire fighter.  He eventually went to work for Nabors and they began a relationship.

Interestingly, Nabors says he was out toco-workers and friends while he was busy in show business in the 1960s and 1970s

WA: Marriage Equality Law In Effect Today!

With the certification of the passage of Referendum 74 earlier in the day, marriage licenses were issued starting at 12:01am Thursday December 6th in the state of Washington, becoming the 8th state in the United States to do so (following Massachusetts, Iowa, California, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York). The marriage equality enactment order starts getting tricky, because California has not been able to issue any further marriage licences since November 2008. Couples in Washington can marry after a waiting period of 3 days following the issuance of a license. There are some great pictures of same-sex couples (including Dan Savage and his husband Terry) lining up for marriage licences last night from Joe Mirabella.

As of January 1st, 2013 there will be (at least) 9 states (and the District of Columbia) where same-sex couples can receive legal civil marriage licenses and get married. Maryland's marriage law, which was also subject to a referendum which passed in the November 2012 elections, goes into effect on January 1st, 2013. Maine's marriage equality law, which was enacted by an affirmative ballot initiative, will go into effect on December 29, 2012.

Depending on what the United States Supreme Court decides to do with the pending appeal in the Hollingworth v Perry case striking down Proposition 8 California may become the 10th state to have legal marriage equality on January 1st 2013.

WA Ref. 74 Near 54-46 Win For Marriage Equality

The passage of Washington's Referendum 74 was known sometime last week when the heterosexual supremacists conceded and preliminary election results showed a decisive 52%-48% victory for marriage equality.

Washington is now a 100% vote-by-mail state now so their election results take a little bit longer to be finalized. The very latest results (from November 21) show that Referendum 74 is being approved by over 225,000 out of well over 3 million votes, with 1,652,306 in favor of marriage equality and 1,426,742 against it, which in percentages is 53.66% to 46.34%.

The other states where marriage equality also passed currently indicate that in Maine Question 1 passed 52.59% to 47.41% (369,220 to 332,904 although bizarrely the Maine Secretary of State does not have easily accessible online election results in 2012? #FAIL!). In Maryland Question 6 passed 52.4% to 47.6% (1,373,504 to 1,246,045).

In Minnesota, the attempt to amend the state constitution to prohibit marriage equality failed when only 47.44% of the total votes cast were in favor of the measure, with 1,510,434 No votes and 1,399,916 Yes votes.

I find it fascinating that there are millions and millions of people who voted for marriage equality this year. (Of course in 2008, there were even more people who voted for marriage equality by voting No on Proposition 8 but there were even more millions who voted against it.)

Obama Picks Pro-Equality Side In Gay Ballot Fights

Huge news today from the Obama for America campaign on the issue of marriage equality. The president's re-election team today sent out statements to the groups fighting to enact marriage equality in Washington, Maryland and Maine saying that President Obama is endorsing the pro-equality side in all four of these ballot measure campaigns.

The official statement of the President in favor of Washington's Referendum 74 (issued by Washington state Obama for America press secretary Paul Bell) is:

“While the president does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the president believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect. Washington’s same-sex marriage law would treat all Washington couples equally, and that is why the President supports a vote to approve Referendum 74.”

While the official statement on Maine's Question 1 issued by Obama for America's Northeast regional press secretary Michael Czin reads:

"While the president does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the president believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect. The president believes same-sex couples should be treated equally and supports Question 1."

The official statement on Maryland's Question 6 from Obama for America spokesperson Frank Benenati reads:

“While the president does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the president believes in treating everyone fairly and equally, with dignity and respect. Maryland’s same-sex marriage law would treat all Maryland couples equally, and that is why the president supports Question 6.”

Way back in April the Obama-Biden campaign released a statement in opposition to Minnesota's Proposition 8 copycat measure which would amend that state's constitution to ban marriage equality. That statement read (in part):

"While the President does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the record is clear that the President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples. That's what the Minnesota ballot initiative would do -- it would single out and discriminate against committed gay and lesbian couples."

Today's statements are especially significant because they show that not only is the President opposed to discriminatory measures like Minnesota's but they are also in favor of affirmative measures like Question 1 in Maine, Question 6 in Maryland and Referendum 74 which would all enact marriage equality if passed by voters on November 6th.

Bill & Melinda Gates Give $500K To Approve R-74

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/washington-united-for-marriage-salutes-signature-gifts-from-mayor-bloomberg-and-bill-melinda-gates-in-closing-days/! Although he had previously given $100,000 as part of a pair of six-figure donations by the current and former CEOs of Microsoft corporation to support marriage equality in Washington, it was announced on Tuesday that Bill and Melinda Gates wrote another check, this time for $500,000, to approve Referendum 74.

Bill and Melinda Gates have donated $500,000 to the campaign to uphold the state's gay marriage law. 

The donation was announced Tuesday by Washington United for Marriage, which is working to approve Referendum 74. The donation was made on Oct. 15, but didn't publicly post online with the Public Disclosure Commission until Tuesday. Referendum 74 asks voters to either approve or reject the law allowing same-sex marriage that was passed by the Legislature earlier this year.
Bill Gates had made a $100,000 contribution to the campaign earlier this year. 

About $11 million has been spent on the campaign so far, with a bulk of it spent by gay marriage supporters. Washington United for Marriage has far outraised its opponents, bringing in nearly $11 million compared to the more than $2 million raised so far by Preserve Marriage Washington, which opposes the law.

The Gates' are not the only billionaires to show their support for marriage equality. Mike Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, has announced that he will match dollar-for-dollar all donations up to $250,000, which could end up raising another $500,000 for Approve Referendum 74.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Comparisons of Marriage Equality Fundraising By State

The fundraising totals for the marriage equality campaigns in Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington have been released in the last few weeks. Respectively, the campaigns have raised $3.2 million (MD), $3.4 million (ME), $8.2 million (MN) and $9.4 million (WA). Knowing the specific total amounts of money raised to fight the anti-gay ballot measures in each state is important, especially in states like Minnesota and Washington where these amounts are at least 4 times as much as the heterosexual supremacists have raised.

However, probably a more useful way to analyze the data is to look at the per capita amount of money raised by the campaigns, which is displayed by the following graphic:

In this case, Maine leads with $2.56 per person (population of Maine is only 1,328,188), followed by Minnesota with $1.53 per person (population of Minnesota is 5,344,861), with Washington close behind with $1.38 per person (population of Washington is 6,830,038) and Maryland lagging with a mere $0.56 per person (population of Maryland is 5,828,289). All figures are taken from the 2010 Census. So it is not surprising that Washington has raised the most money, since they are the most populous state facing a marriage ballot measure right now, but Maine is doing significantly well considering the relatively small population of that mostly rural state. The more accurate number to use in the per capita calculation might be the voting population total, but generally one would not expect a huge voter registration variation between these four Blue states that would drastically change the overall results.

Using the per capita numbers would seem to suggest Maine has the best chance of winning, with Maryland the least likely. This seems pretty consonant with what insiders (and my gut) is telling me. Basically, any result is possible at this point, from a sweep of 4 wins, to a devastating debacle of 4 losses.

Of course money is not the sole determinant of who will win these campaigns, but it is significant that after losing marriage equality ballot measures in 32 states, the last few (North Carolina 2012, Maine 2009 and California 2008) the forces for LGBT equality have consistently out-raised the heterosexual supremacists, though usually not by much. It will be important to see whether a huge financial advantage that is present in places like Maine and Washington will lead to victories there.

We'll know the answer in roughly three weeks!

WA: Heterosexual Supremacists Lie About R-74

The heterosexual supremacists who are opposing efforts to legalize marriage equality in Washington, Maryland and Maine know they are facing a losing battle against time and progress. So, as they have done so often in other fights (like in 2008's Proposition 8 in California and 2009's Question 1 in Maine), they are mischaracterizing the issues involved and blatantly dissembling about marriage equality and LGBT people.

In Washington, the forces campaigning for LGBT equality have developed the website marriagefactcheck.com where they can respond and refute the anti-equality forces' lies.

And here's the refutation of just some of the falsehoods buried in the latest 30-second ad from the "bad guys

CLAIM: “Gays and Lesbians already have the same legal rights as married couples.”  

FACTS: While domestic partnerships are legal in Washington, states that have passed such laws have found them to be fundamentally unequal and harmful. [See here, here, and here.] As the Supreme Court of Connecticut wrote in 2008 when it struck down a statute that prohibited same-sex marriage, civil unions and marriage “are by no means ‘equal.’”  The court explained in its opinion: “Despite the truly laudable effort of the legislature in equalizing the legal rights afforded same sex and opposite sex couples, there is no doubt that civil unions enjoy a lesser status in our society than marriage.”  

CLAIM: Marriage “was created for the care and well-being of the next generation.” 

FACTS: Many households headed by same-sex couples in the U.S. are raising children. According to the U.S. Census, approximately 20 percent of same-sex couples are raising nearly 250,000 children.  Children being raised by loving, committed same-sex couples – like all children – deserve the protections that come from allowing their parents to marry.    

CLAIM: “When laws like 74 have occurred elsewhere, people who disagree have faced lawsuits, fines, and punishment.”  

FACTS: A Seattle Times national investigation “failed to turn up any evidence that same-sex marriage had produced a rash of suits involving businesspeople.”  The newspaper “also checked with human rights commissions in four of the six states where marriage is legal; the commissions said there was not an increase in discrimination findings or suits involving same sex marriage.”

Now, that's how you smack down lies and hateful deceit! Let's hope that campaigns in Maryland and Maine are also willing to respond robustly when the opposing campaigns in those states also start to lie in order to confuse voters to choose discrimination over equal treatment under the law.

WA: New Ad Features Republican Supporting R-74

As the race to defend marriage equality at the ballot box becomes more intense  as the pro-equality and anti-equality sides start airing ads this week in Maryland, in Washington state the "air war" started weeks ago. The latest ad features Washington State Representative Maureen Wash, a Republican legislator, who strongly supported the state's marriage equality law when it passed the legislature and was signed into law earlier this year.

Here's the video in which Shaw appears:

Note how different this ad is from the ads from the heterosexual supremacists in Minnesota ("[marriage] was made by God") and in Maryland ("no one has the right to redefine marriage"). The Washington state ad is about "fundamental fairness" and asks viewers to come up with a reason for why they should deny anyone the right to be married to the person that they love. It's a pretty hard question to answer unless viewers are willing to explicitly discriminate against same-sex couples in order to maintain their own heterosexual privilege.

We'll know the answer to these and other questions, in 29 days!

Washington United for Marriage Approve 74 Ad

Washington United for Marriage has started airing its first Approve 74 television advertisement to defend marriage equality in the state at the ballot on November 6.

It features two straight parents explaining that they want the same right for their lesbian daughter to be protected and loved by a married spouse as they want for their other daughters.

This "Boehler" ad is very similar to the first ads used in Maine (2009) and even California (2008). Obviously, there are many more straight people than LGBT people, so the advertising must be targeted at convincing them why they might want to vote to allow same-sex marriages.

WA: Poll Shows 56%-38% Lead For Approve R-74

A new poll out of Washington state shows a dramatic increase in support for marriage equality in that state, with 56% of respondents indicating that they would approve Referendum 74 while only 38% indicating that they would reject the marriage equality measure. This is a big change from previous polls from June (51% same-sex marriage legal, 42% same-sex marriage illegal) and July (50% Approve, 43% Disapprove) which had worried LGBT equality activists in Washington and beyond.

On the money front, Washington is doing rather well. Washington United for Marriage announced recently that it has raised over $7 million dollars to defend marriage equality this November, $1.8 million of which came in during August.

[Washington United for Marriage] now has 13,866 individual contributors, believed to be the largest number of donors in any Washington state ballot campaign.  According to the Public Disclosure Commission’s online records dating from 2000, only 2008’s I-1000 came close, with approximately 9,500 contributors.

The average median gift in August was $50, with 84 percent of those donations coming from Washington state.  Additionally, those 5,000-plus new contributors in August constitute a 47% increase over the 8,900 individuals who had donated to the campaign by the end of July.

“We are so energized by the confidence so many people and organizations have placed in our campaign and the drive to defend our marriage law in November,” said Zach Silk, WUM’s campaign manager. “With the campaign season now fully in gear, we’ve got a broad and deep field organization in literally every corner of the state and none of that would have been possible without the generosity of our donors.”

At the same time that the campaign set statewide fund raising records, WUM’s field effort continued to build into one of the largest ever launched in a statewide ballot measure.

One thing to watch as one assesses the likelihood of success in the four ongoing statewide ballot fights over marriage equality occurring in Maine, Washington, Maryland and Minnesota is not only the amount of money raised but also what they are spending it on. WA is spending theirs on developing a field campaign, and they have enough resources for a robust television ad campaign.

REI Takes Strong Position in Favor of LGBT Equality

In the ongoing kulturkampf about LGBT equality in general and marriage equality in particular the pressure on corporations to take a stand has become intense. I have neglected to comment on the recent Chick-Fila-A brouhaha, but I do think it is significant when corporate entities (or their CEOs) stick their neck out to reveal their values to the community.

To that end, with the ongoing fight over Washington's Referendum 74 continuing, several Washington-based companies have been forced to say whether they are in favor of marriage equality (i.e. on the Approve Referendum 74 side) or not. Previously we discussed huge personal donations from Washington-based tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and his wife (Amazon.com) and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer (Microsoft).

The latest one to join the good guys is the well-known outdoors retailer REI.

Washington United for Marriage reacts:

“REI is taking a position in support of marriage equality — an issue that is important to the co-op as an inclusive organization and a welcoming place to work and do business,” wrote [CEO and President Sally] Jewell, who went on to describe the importance of her own 34-year marriage through raising children, job changes and relocation, and the joys and challenging of aging parents. 

“Marriage equality is important to the co-op because the benefits, legal clarity and social understanding that Warren and I have enjoyed these past 34 years should be available to any two people who want to express their love and make a permanent commitment to each other that is so clearly provided for in the legal definition of marriage,” Jewell wrote. 

“We are so proud to have REI take this powerful step in endorsing the freedom to marry and our effort to Approve Referendum 74,” said WUM Campaign Manager Zach Silk.  ”REI is one of Washington’s iconic companies and it’s woven into many of our lives.  Whether we’re on a day hike, paddling in a kayak, or pitching a tent with our kids, we’re generally doing it with gear we got at REI.  As a result, this endorsement will register with a lot of people and we’re very grateful to have REI’s support.” 

With annual sales of $1.8 Billion, REI has nearly 5 million co-op members nationwide and has been on Fortune’s Best Places to Work ranking every year since the inception of the list.  REI has a long history of environmental stewardship and is committed to “increasing access to outdoor recreative through volunteerism, gear donations and financial contributions.” 

Among the leading business supporters of Approve 74 and WUM are Nike, Starbucks, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Alcoa, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Vulcan.

Take another close look at that list of corporations in favor of the marriage equality referendum in Washington: it's basically a who's who of the business community in the state! As I keep on saying, the kulturkampf is basically all over except for the gnashing and wailing of teeth. Of course, that means the battles will get louder and nastier as the bad guys realize they are going to lose the war and might as well take as many casualties now.

WA: Ballot Language for R-74 Set

The ballot language for the upcoming referendum in Washington state on their marriage equality law has now been set, and happily is pretty matter-of-fact, devoid of any heterosexual supremacist or religious extremist messaging.

Read it for yourself:

Ballot Title
The legislature passed Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6239 concerning marriage for same-sex couples, modified domestic-partnership law, and religious freedom, and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill.

This bill would allow same-sex couples to marry, preserve domestic partnerships only for seniors, and preserve the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform, recognize, or accommodate any marriage ceremony.

Should this bill be:

Approved [ ]

Rejected [ ]

Ballot Measure Summary
This bill allows same-sex couples to marry, applies marriage laws without regard to gender, and specifies that laws using gender-specific terms like husband and wife include same-sex spouses. After 2014, existing domestic partnerships are converted to marriages, except for seniors. It preserves the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform or recognize any marriage or accommodate wedding ceremonies. The bill does not affect licensing of religious organizations providing adoption, foster-care, or child-placement.

Recent polls have shown that although public opinion is in favor of marriage equality in Washington State, some LGBT activists are nervous because support for Referendum 74 it is not as far ahead as to make the eventual result a foregone conclusion.

Amazon Founder Donates $2.5M To Approve R74

Matthew Staver/Bloomberg News

The corporate and LGBT worlds are buzzing today about an astonishing pledge made by the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, billionaire Jeff Bezos (and his wife Mackenzie) to donate $2.5 million in support of preserving marriage equality in Washington state (where Amazon is headquartered). The money will go to Washington United for Marriage's campaign to approve Referendum 74 on the November 6, 2012 ballot, and basically doubles the total amount of money WU4M has raised to date.


The organization responded with a press release:

SEATTLE—July 27, 2012—Washington United for Marriage (WUM), the statewide coalition working to defend the state’s law protecting civil marriage for same-sex couples, today announced an historic, $2.5 million gift from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos.  It is believed to be the largest individual gift in the country to secure or protect the freedom to marry.  With the Bezos’ gift, WUM has now raised over $5 million towards its broad, statewide campaign to approve Referendum 74 in November.

“I am thrilled by Jeff and MacKenzie’s staggeringly generous donation,” said Jennifer Cast, who serves as WUM’s volunteer finance co-chair and spent over seven years in various senior positions at Amazon.com. “Their support of our efforts to approve R74 comes at an important time and will have great impact.  I am deeply grateful to both of them as this donation is going to help us make history.”

“The extraordinary contribution from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos will make an enormous difference for our campaign to defend Washington’s marriage law,” said WUM’s campaign manager, Zach Silk. “While it provides an amazing base for the work ahead, we hope it spurs others to invest because we’re a long way from November and we face opponents with deep pockets who are committed to spending millions to defeat us.”

It will be interesting to see if this news about the massive amounts of money raised by marriage equality advocates will quiet the nerves of local LGBT activists who are nervous about the recent polling numbers out of Washington on marriage equality.

WA: New Poll Worries Marriage Equality Supporters

A new poll of Washington's Referendum 74 on marriage equality is making local activists nervous because the results show a narrow lead for the good guys: 50% Approve, 43% Reject, 7% "Not Sure." With the experience of losing a marriage referendum in Maine in November 2009 despite public polls showing a small but persistent leads for supporters for marriage equality, activists now realize that unless stated support for marriage is around 55% or well above 50% including the margin of error means that these results out of Washington have marriage equality supporters gnashing their teeth:

This is not good. Going into an election with less than 55 percent support is considered a dicey gamble. But the poll released this week shows gay marriagedoesn't even have a majority of support, which means that opponents need only keep the 7 percent of undecided voters afraid and peel off a fraction of support to defeat the measure in November. And while other polls have shown it doing slightly better—ranging from 47 percent to 54 percent—all of them showlosing would be easy. After all, in Maine in 2009, marriage equality was narrowly leading in the polls before being defeated by a six-point margin on election day.

The margin of error in the SurveyUSA is ±4 points. It's still a long ways to election day, but this is a good wake-up call for activists who thought that defending Washington's marriage law would be relatively easy. The heterosexual supremacists who want to enforce their discriminatory view that same-sex couples should be denied access to civil marriage licenses will not go down with a fight.

PLEASE support Washington United for Marriage by donating here, I did!

Microsoft CEOs Donate $200K To Approve R-74

Current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and former Microsoft CEO (and co-founder) Bill Gates have each donated $100,000 to Washington United for Marriage, the marriage equality group tasked with defending that state's marriage equality law by advocating for the approval of Referendum 74.

KING-5 reports:

Microsoft is just one of several prominent Pacific Northwest businesses that have expressed their support for same-sex marriage, including Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc.

Referendum 74 was certified for the ballot last month after gay marriage opponents turned in more than 240,000 signatures, far more than the minimum of 120,577 valid voter signatures required.

The referendum seeks to overturn the law passed earlier this year allowing same-sex marriage in the state. That law was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in February. The law was supposed to take effect June 7 but was put on hold once the signatures were turned in.

This is an important signal to business interests that the leaders of the state's largest corporation are firmly in support of marriage equality (as are a majority of Washington voters) and are willing  to put their money where their principles are.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress

WA Poll Indicates Majority Support for Marriage

A new PPP poll of Washington state uses the somewhat problematic question of "Do you think same-sex marriage should be legal or illegal?" and gets the result that 51% say legal, 42% say illegal and 7% are undecided. This question is problematic because it most likely overstates support for marriage equality. After all, even people who oppose same-sex marriage do not necessarily want it to be "illegal." The poll was taken from June 14-17 and has a margin of error ±3 percentage points. This poll is another data point that shows majority support for marriage equality in Washington state, which some people can serve as a proxy for how Washington voters will vote on Referendum 74, which if approved in November 2012 would legalize marriage equality in the state.

Hopefully, more polls will come out that will actually ask the public the exact same question voters will see on the ballot.

WA: Referendum 74 On Marriage Equality Is Set

It's on like donkey kong! The heterosexual supremacists in Washington State submitted 240,000 signatures earlier this week to place Washington's marriage equality law on hold until after the November 2012 vote on Referendum 74.

Washington United for Marriage responded to the signature submission:

 “For us, there’s no news here.  We always knew our opponents would qualify for the ballot, and we know they paid hired canvassers to boost their count.  They can spin it however they want, but they clearly wouldn’t have paid out-of-pocket if they thought they could do it on their own.

“Whatever the final certified number is, it doesn’t matter.  This campaign is up and running and we know by independent poll numbers released last week that the overwhelming majority of Washingtonians do not want to overturn this law of fundamental fairness for all families.

“That’s why we’ll continue to build on the broad and diverse campaign we’ve created.  We are energized by the families who know that only marriage fully protects their children, by the parents who want all of their children to be able to marry the person they love, and by loving gay and lesbian couples who simply want to make that lifetime commitment to one another. Those are the values of the vast majority of people in this state and that’s why we believe we’ll ultimately win in November.”

This basically makes it certain that in four states this fall there will be campaigns and public votes on marriage equality, with three of those votes ending up in legalizing civil marriages of same-sex couples if the electorate supports the equality position. The four states are Maine, Washington, Maryland and Minnesota with Minnesota's vote on adding a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality (similar to California's Proposition 8) in a state which already has a state law banning the practice. Happily, the latest poll shows that Minnesota's ban is likely to fail.

In fact, in all 4 states support for marriage equality is increasing and is almost above 50% outside the margin of error of recent polls. (Maine is at 54%-41% as of March 2012, Maryland is at 57%-37% as of May 2012 and Washington is at 54%-33% as of May 2012.)

POLL: Majority Support For WA Marriage Equality

A recently released independent poll of likely voters in Washington state shows clear majority support for marriage equality in advance of an expected ballot measure campaign around Referendum 74, which if approved would allow that state's new marriage equality law to go into effect. In response to the question "Do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married?" 54% of likely voters say they support marriage, while 33% oppose it. 4% say they "need more information" or "it depends" while 8% refused to answer or said they "don't know." The margin of error in the poll is ± 4.4 points, so it is technically possible (but very unlikely) that support for marriage equality in Washington state is not quite an actual majority.

The crosstabs of the poll are fascinating. A stunning 87% of Democrats support marriage equality (with a mere 7% oppose) while 61% of Republicans oppose marriage equality and 22% support it. King County (which includes Seattle) is the most populous county in the state and voters there support marriage equality by a 60-30 margin. Women (who make up 55% of the electorate) approve of marriage equality at a 61-29 margin while men favor marriage equality 47-38. The only other significant slice of the electorate which opposes marriage equality in Washington state are McCain voters, who oppose it 61-20. Independent voters support marriage equality by a 52-36 margin.

Next week, heterosexual supremacists are expected to submit as many as 150,000 signatures instigating a referendum and preventing the new marriage law from going into effect until after the November 2012 election. Washington United for Marriage, the group protecting the marriage equality law from attack by homophobic religious extremists released a statement:

“This poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Washington voters agree that their lesbian and gay friends, co-workers and family members should have the freedom to marry ,” said Zach Silk, WUM campaign manager. “Our opponents are out-of-step with Washington values, but thanks to their paid signature operation, they’ll turn in huge numbers and succeed in putting the law on November’s ballot.  And we know that what lies ahead is a campaign designed to frighten and confuse voters.”

The poll, conducted by Strategies 360 for the Associated Press, comes on the heels of President Obama’s endorsement marriage for same-sex couples.  Just one day after announcing his decision, the President arrived in Seattle, and on May 10th, told Washington voters that they, “…have the chance to make your voice heard on the issue of making sure that everybody… is treated fairly.”

“In Washington, we did it right.  With broad support from Republicans and Democrats, we passed a law that respects all of our families while protecting the rights of religious institutions to make their own decisions, ” added Silk.  ” This poll affirms what we see and hear everyday: that Washingtonians believe that marriage belongs to all loving, committed couples. But get ready.  Our opponents are already spinning fear and spreading misinformation.  We know that they will do whatever it takes to win.”

Washington is one of the three states which could be voting to legalize marriage equality this fall, along with Maine and Maryland. In Minnesota, they will be voting on a(nother) constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality. Of course, we at MadProfessah.com will be following these developments very very closely.