Circum Spective

sTOP oBJECTING tO oUR uNGODLIY bEHAVIOR ... oR dIE!

What did I just finish saying about people being punished
for asserting that homosexuality is wrong?

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked Washington state officials from releasing the names of people who signed referendum petitions asking voters to approve or reject the so-called "everything but marriage" law, which grants registered domestic partners the same legal rights as married couples.

Last Thursday, the appeals court reversed a previous decision by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma to block release of the petitions. Settle held that releasing the names could chill the First Amendment rights of petition signers. In its brief order, the 9th Circuit panel said Settle used the wrong legal standard in granting the preliminary injunction that barred release of the petitions, and that the injunction therefore must be reversed.

Conservative Christian groups that sponsored R-71 want to keep the signed petitions out of public view because they fear harassment from gay-rights supporters [people who engage in, and who encourage other people to engage in, homosexual acts], some of whom have allegedly destroyed the personal property of petition signers and even issued death threats.