The Equal Rights Washington Education Fund, a nonprofit barred from investing much of its funds in electoral politics, can't spend money on ads about Referendum 71. But they can spend money on an ad this ad featuring Charlene Strong, who lost her partner in a flooding disaster, talking about being barred from her partner's hospital room:


It's a moving ad. I've got a call into ERWEF to ask where the ads are running. I hope it gets played in the suburbs and Eastern Washington, where folks may know about Referendum 71 but may aren't exposed to many actual domestic partners. Or... aren't exposed to any gay people.

UPDATE: Connie Watts, the director of ERWEF, says the group is running the ads "all over" the state. They will air though the end of the week in Seattle, Walla Walla, Yakima, Tri Cities, Vancouver, and Bellingham. "Then we are giving opportunities on our website for people to buy more airtime anywhere they would like to," she says. Watts adds that the commercials are entirely educational and have "no coordination with the campaign" to Approve R-71.