Stalking anti gay marriage voters

George Will:

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On Tuesday, Washington residents will vote in a referendum that has national significance because of a controversy about disclosing the names and addresses of those who signed petitions to trigger the referendum.

Disclosure threatens the right to privacy, which is under assault by a spreading movement — call it thuggish liberalism — that uses intimidation to suppress political participation.

The referendum is on a new state law that some say establishes same-sex marriage. This is a matter about which people differ. What is, however, unambiguously wrong is the attempt by some supporters of the law to force disclosure of the names and addresses of the 138,000 people who signed the petition bringing about the referendum. This can have no other purpose than to make it possible to harass those signers.

Those favoring disclosure say it is mandatory under the state's Public Records Act. If so, that act is unconstitutional. In the 1950s, Alabama tried to compel the NAACP to disclose its membership list. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that disclosure would burden the freedoms of expression and association that the First Amendment protects.

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If the disclosure of those names leads to harassment and intimidation, I think the victims can use the state's anti stalking laws to have those responsible thrown in jail.