Christopher Plante, Regional Director for NOM, speaks to Ross Reynolds on KUOW radio in Washington State about the fight to protect marriage.

He says: "We're confident that we will be able to get far more than enough signatures" because "we're talking about the most fundamental institution our society has. People in Washington like people across the country ... really do understand that the definition of marriage is one man and one woman."

The New American:

On February 13 Washington Governor Chris Gregoire (left) affixed her signature to a law making her state the seventh to legalize homosexual marriage, even as pro-family forces were preparing a referendum that will challenge the measure and give voters the final say on how marriage is defined in the state.

As Gregoire signed the law, which is scheduled to take effect June 7, she declared it “a day historians will mark as a milestone for equal rights, a day when we did what was right, we did what was just, and we did what was fair.”

But on the same day, reported the Associated Press, leaders of the pro-family coalition Preserve Marriage Washington were busy filing Referendum 73 to put the law before the voters for what they hope will be a repeal. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, they have until June 6 to gather 120,577 signatures to put the referendum on the ballot in November, effectively blocking homosexual couples from getting married until the outcome of the state-wide vote.

Among the leaders in the fight to preserve marriage in Washington is Joseph Backholm, head of the state’s Family Policy Institute, who said his group is working to give voters the final say on the issue. “Marriage is the union of one man and one woman for good reason,” Backholm said following passage of the homosexual marriage bill. “Marriage is society’s way of bringing men and women together so that children can be raised by, and cared for by, their mother and father — the people responsible for bringing them into the world. It is the most-important, child-focused institution of society and we will fight to preserve it. Voters will have the opportunity to define marriage in our state.”

Among the state and national groups that are combining forces to get the referendum on the ballot are the Family Policy Institute, Stand for Marriage Washington, Concerned Women for America, and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). In addition, organizers said they expect hundreds of churches and individuals to pitch in to gather the needed signatures.

The Seattle Times:

With same-sex marriage virtually assured in Washington state, opponents seeking to undo it are looking ahead to summer and fall, and to a campaign they say will draw on the resources of national organizations that have waged and won these kinds of fights.

A day after the state Senate approved same-sex marriage on a 28-21 vote and moved the bill to the House, where it's expected to pass, the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage (NOM) said it's fully committed to repealing the measure in November.

One of the largest national funders in the fight against gay marriage, NOM also is gearing up for ballot battles in North Carolina and Minnesota, where voters this year will decide whether to ban gay marriage in their constitutions, as 29 states already have done.

In Washington state, NOM will employ strategies not unlike those it used four years ago to help roll back legislatively approved gay marriage in Maine and bring about a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in California under Proposition 8.

"We plan to submit a referendum on this to the secretary of state before the ink is dry on the governor's signature," said Chris Plante, regional coordinator for NOM. "We've got a major constituency; faith communities across the state will carry a heavy load on this. But they're not the only ones committed to retaining the current definition of marriage."