Referendum 71 should fail on its own merits. Washington voters should withhold their signatures from petitions to put an expansion of domestic partnership laws on the November ballot. Opponents have rightly asked their supporters to "decline to sign." Sadly, another group is invoking threats and intimidation to wage its own idiotic campaign.

Maybe there is some sort of weird hubris or arrogance of power at work. The folks at whosigned.org suggest they will rummage through the signatures filed with the Washington secretary of state - which are public record - publish the names and addresses, and then, maybe, just maybe, turn loose a phone bank of intimidating callers. Curiously, they are going for the stereotypical image of unsettling confrontation. You know, The 700 Club meets La Cage aux Folles.

The expansion of domestic partnership laws is about equal treatment for Washington families. Referendum 71 seeks to undo that progress. Dumb politics and stupid tactics by opponents are a gift.

Forty years ago, protests at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village defined the beginning of the gay rights movement in America. Angry men and women decided they were not going to take any more official abuse because of their sexual orientation. Four decades later their bravery and determination have changed how society and the law view marriage and families.

A reversal of roles with the bullying tactics is mindless.