As legalized same-sex marriage advices in a few more jurisdictions, there's a read from Washington state well worth the review, coming from the opposition side. (Hat tip on this to the Seattle Times' Danny Westneat.)
It comes from the conservative pastor Joe Fuiten, of Cedar Park Church at Bothell, long active on social issues and strongly opposed to same-sex marriage. That hasn't changed. But his take, and that of others of like mind, on how to react to the social changes underway around the country certainly seem to have changed.
The immediate trigger is the newly-passed state legislation providing redefinitions for domestic partnerships, making them closely (not exactly ) equal to marriage. Fuiten is among those who disagree with it, and considering campaigning for a referendum in which voters would, prospectively, overturn it. Fuiten emailed a number of his counterparts around the state asking, is this is a battle we want to, or should, get into? The replies make for fascinating reading.
There were 34 responses, which Fuiten summarized: "Out of that group, six people have said, yes, we should definitely run a Referendum, three people offered conditional support, and over 25 people said, 'DO NOT RUN a REFERENDUM'."
Westneat called Fuiten and asked, after seeing and considering the responses, that question. The response: "It's dumb to try to repeal it. We'd lose. We'd set our whole cause back."
Once again, changing wind.