Did a Gay Marriage Volunteer Accost an Antigay Woman?

A man who was volunteering for Washington State's effort to enact marriage equality is accused of taking a yard sign from a woman's vehicle in front of a grocery store and proceeding to use vulgar language against her.

The pro-Referendum 74 volunteer was outside of a Safeway store in Burien, near Seattle, on Sunday, The Seattle Times reports. According to the report, he grabbed the "Reject Ref. 74" sign from inside her car, called her a racial slur, and told her to go back to Africa.

Officials with Washington United for Marriage, which is backing Referendum 74 to establish marriage equality across the state, said they condemn all acts of this nature but said that the claims were "well-worn" tactics that antigay forces have used in the past, including during the fight over marriage equality in California in 2008, according to the Times. King County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West said the volunteer had left the scene before deputies could arrive and that surveillance cameras could not pick up on the incident.