The airwaves are filled with political ads, and political volunteers are swarming neighborhoods, busily knocking on doors to try to ensure victory for their candidate or cause of choice.

The two important ballot measures in Washington this year, Referendum 71 and Initiative 1033, will both have profound ramifications in the state for years. I-1033 is the latest initiative to be put forward by conservative, anti-government activist, Tim Eyman. If passed, it will put severe limits on the spending of state, county and local governments.

Referendum 71, if passed, would extend many of the same rights and protections afforded to married couples to same-sex and senior domestic partners in Washington state. A vote to approve R-71 is a vote to keep the “everything-but-marriage” domestic partnership law that was already passed and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Organized opposition to R-71 is coming from a political action committee called Protect Marriage Washington. The group has made use of every scare tactic in the book, including TV ads, which argue that passage of R-71 would mean our public schools would have to teach children that “homosexuality is normal and healthy, whether parents approve or not.” Another ad points out that the domestic partnership law “violates God’s mandate.”

But these opponents have sunk to a new low by posting on their Web site an “important message” from Republican state Sen. Val Stevens arguing against R-71. Her letter is steeped in homophobic scare tactics, demonstrating just how out of touch she is with mainstream Washington voters and students on this campus.

Sen. Stevens opens by asking, “Are the homosexuals finally going to take control of our culture and push their depraved lifestyle on our children and families?”

The notion that extending rights to a minority somehow constitutes “taking control of our culture” is utterly ridiculous. With R-71, the gay community is simply asking to be able to enjoy the basic rights that come with being in a loving, committed, long-term relationship.

R-71 has nothing to do with pushing lifestyles either. Clearly it’s absurd to suggest that allowing gay couples to visit loved ones in the hospital or to take medical leave when a partner becomes gravely ill somehow hurts existing marriages and harms children.

Stevens continues the scare tactics with warnings about “behavior commonly considered perversion” being allowed when sodomy laws were repealed following the 1960s. She warns that the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is “on the horizon,” aiming to repeal age-of-consent laws. She continues with more conspiracy theories including concern about the “feminization of the male in our society.”

You can’t get much crazier than that, folks.

A recent national poll showed that 54 percent of Americans agree that gay couples should be entitled to the same government benefits as married people. Surely this number is even higher in a progressive state such as our own.

The bottom line is that Sen. Stevens and Protect Marriage Washington are way out of touch with mainstream opinions in this state and in the country. Voters should reject their crazy scare tactics this November.

Reach columnist Chris Jordan at opinion@dailyuw.com.