Initiative 957 was a proposed ballot initiative in the state of Washington. It was filed on January 10, 2007 and withdrawn on July 3, 2007 after sponsors collected about 40,000 signatures, which was too few to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

If passed by voters, Initiative 957 would have required that all marriages recognized by the state have produced offspring within three years of their solemnization. The initiative was created by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, a gay rights group. The goal of Initiative 957 was to directly challenge Andersen v. King County, which holds that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is a legitimate state interest in order to encourage reproduction. The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance hoped to use this to create a test case in order to have a court strike down the measure and highlight what they perceive as weaknesses within the logic of Andersen.

See also

• Same-sex marriage
• LGBT rights
• Childfree

References

External links

• Text of the initative
• News story about the initiative
• KING5.com, Wash. initiative would require married couples to have kids, February 6, 2007
• Seattle Times, Initiative ties marriage, procreation, February 6, 2007