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gay_marriage_USAThe group fighting to overturn Washington States’s gay marriage law started running its first TV ads in the state on Thursday 11th October.

The 30-second ad from Preserve Marriage Washington is running statewide on both broadcast and cable channels.

Referendum 74 asks voters to either approve or reject the state’s gay marriage law that was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire earlier this year. That law is on hold pending next month’s vote.

The ad says that because gay and lesbian couples already have all of the same legal rights of married couples under the state’s current domestic partnership law, that R-74 should be rejected.

“You can oppose same-sex marriage and not be anti-gay,” the ad says.

The ad, which opens with a picture of a rainbow flag, also warns of potential lawsuits or fines for those opposed to same-sex marriage if the referendum is approved.

Preserve Marriage spokesman Chip White pointed to a recent lawsuit settlement in Vermont between an inn and two New York women over an accusation it refused to host the couple’s wedding reception. He cited cases from other states that have civil unions or domestic partnerships that have seen similar lawsuits.

“I don’t think we need to limit ourselves to only looking at the states that have same-sex marriage to see what kind of lawsuits happen when marriage is redefined,” he said.

But Andy Grow, a spokesman for Washington United for Marriage, said discrimination based on sexual orientation is already illegal under the state’s anti-discrimination law, which was expanded in 2006 to cover gays and lesbians. And, he notes, no known lawsuits like White points to have occurred in Washington state under the state’s current “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law that grants gay and lesbian couples all the state-granted rights and benefits that married couples have.

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