Oregon Public Broadcasting

The legal war rages on over the petitions Washington voters signed to put Referendum 71 on the state's November ballot.

Protect Marriage Washington tells the Seattle Times it will appeal Thursday's ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that paves the way for the petitions to be released to the public. Austin Jenkins reports.

Referendum 71 is the measure to approve or reject Washington's latest gay domestic partnership law – known as “everything but marriage.”

Months ago, a gay activist in Seattle asked Washington's Secretary of State to hand over copies of all R-71 voter petitions so he could post them on a website called whosigned.org.

This prompted Protect Marriage Washington to go to federal court to block the petitions from being released.

Its argument: the information could be used to harass gay rights opponents.

The group won the first two rounds in court, but now a 3-judge panel from the 9th Circuit has reversed the lower court.

Washington's Secretary of State has electronic copies of the petitions ready to hand over. But can't do so until a state judge lifts a separate restraining order.

That's unlikely to happen before next week.