For conservatives from Washington state, one anti-gay marriage initiative on the ballot wasn't quite good enough, so they pushed for two. Thankfully, one of the initiatives failed.

As Protect Marriage Washington's Stephen Pidgeon put it, their Initiative 1192 was "woefully short," receiving only 105,000 of the 241,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot. But there's still hope for those awful Kathryn Jean Lopez's of the northwest, as the similarly named Preserve Marriage Washington's repeal referendum gathered enough signatures and will be on the ballot.

Referendum 74, the successful initiative, seeks to repeal the law allowing gay marriage that Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed in February by putting the law up for public vote in November.

As one would expect, both sides have received significant donations. Anti-gay group Preserve Marriage Washington has raised some $130,000, in addition to pledged support by the National Organization of Marriage. Thankfully, Washington United for Marriage, the campaign supporting gay marriage, has raised over ten times that, or $1.5 million, including donations of $100,000 each from Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

A Public Policy Poll released in May found that 51% of Washington state voters favor gay marriage.

Here's hoping Washington follows France's lead.

[Image via AP]