As well they should. I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know the Wasghington Initiative Process that well, does it allow for Ammending the Constitution? That would be the best tactic for the gays to try. It would be up front, in keeping with the spirit of how you change laws, allow a full and fair debate, and fail by a wide margin as it has everywhere else it has appeared, including Oregon.
While I disagree with the desired outcome (gay marraige) I support using the processes as designed to change laws. I abhor trying to end-around using courts, which is what they attempted (in a coordinated multi-state attack following the Mass. win). It is a good day for democracy and the rule of law.
The WA State Constitution cannot be amended by the initiative process. An amendment must go through the Legislature first.
Since the DOMA upheld today was not in the Constitution, and is merely statute law, it can be repealed or modified by the initiative process. The State Legislature can also create laws that need a vote of the people to pass, this is known as referendum.
I would expect that enraged elements in Seattle will have initiative petitions ready for signing within weeks for allowing gay marriage. The right wing would do well to find it in its heart to support civil union instead. Civil unions are not "portable", in other words, a WA (or for that matter, a VT or CT) civil union need not be recognized by another state that does not have civil union law, it stays within the borders of this state. Marriages, on the other hand, do have some portability.
An argument can be made for people in the mushy middle to support a civil unions initiative or referendum, in order to not export gay marriage. There must be some regard given for those homosexual couples who wish to have inheritance rights, bereavement leave, etc. The chestnut of "if we refuse to give any rights to homosexuals, they will go away" doesn't wash here in Wash.! But the electorate can be expected to give each side half a loaf.
Religious conservatives here in WA are breathing a sigh of relief today (I've heard them all over the TV), but they had best beware of a backlash. Those snoozer Supreme Court Justice "races" (often there is only one candidate) will get pretty hot, with a large number of voters failing to even make a choice that far down the ballot, a write-in candidate could succeed. And remember, those of you celebrating should consider that one changed mind today could have meant portable gay marriage across the land.
Washington State has come a ways down the path from its radicalism of the last few decades. The fact that unknown Dino Rossi even got close to well-known Christine Gregoire in a statewide election that she ultimately had to steal should be taken as a sign of progress. This decision will unleash passions on the left that might turn that back, it needs to be diffused, and civil union is probably that path.