FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:January 26, 2012
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Anath Hartmann at 703-683-5004

"Washington voters deserve the right to vote on marriage just as voters in 31 other states have been able to do." — Brian Brown, NOM President —

Olympia, WA—The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today released a statewide survey that shows voters are not in favor of redefining marriage and want the Legislature to be working on other problems.

"Governor Gregoire is leading legislators off a political cliff with her focus on redefining marriage in Washington," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "Having approved civil unions, voters do not support redefining marriage and clearly do not want legislators doing so."

When reminded that Washington State has a civil union law for gay couples, 57% of voters say it is not necessary to redefine marriage. 72% of voters think state lawmakers should work on other issues rather than same-sex marriage. A nearly identical number -71% of voters—believe the people should decide the marriage issue; only 9% think legislators should decide the matter.

"If the Washington Legislature wants to change the definition of marriage, which 57% of voters oppose, NOM calls on them to give this decision to voters. Thirty-one other states have been able to vote on the definition of marriage, and Washington voters deserve the same opportunity," Brown said. "Voters have made it clear in this survey that they alone should decide the marriage issue—not legislators. Let the people vote."

The survey found low job approval for both Governor Gregoire and the state Legislature. More people view Gregoire's job performance as only fair or poor (56%) as compared to excellent or good (34%). The numbers are even worse for the Legislature—66% say their job performance has been only fair or poor while just 17% say they have done an excellent or good job.

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray, [email protected], (x130) or Anath Hartmann, [email protected], (x105) at 703-683-5004.

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To view the entire survey, please click here.