Anti-Gay Marriage Groups Lose Another Battle To Keep Supporters Secret

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/anti-gay_marriage_groups_lose_another_battle_to_ke.php

Gay marriage opponents are fighting (and, for the most part, losing) the battle to keep their supporters and donors secret from the “homosexual lobby” that seeks to intimidate them.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an application by Protect Marriage Washington to block the names of its supporters from being open to the public.

The case relates to Referendum 71, an unsuccessful attempt in 2009 by opponents of gay marriage to repeal Washington’s “everything but marriage” law, which gives domestic partners almost all of the same rights as married couples. Backers of R-71 were able to get the measure on the ballot, but voters upheld the law 53%-47%.

Since the vote, PMW has been fighting the Secretary of State’s release of the names of the 137,000 people who signed the R-71 petition, arguing that it violates the signers’ First Amendment rights. “A reasonable person would conclude that if he speaks up about traditional marriage in Washington, he risks facing a reasonable probability of threats, harassment, or reprisals and, therefore, his speech is chilled,” PMW wrote in an appeal to the 9th Circuit.