WA: Marriage Equality Bill Introduced 2 Votes Short

Good news! In Washington state, a marriage equality bill (SB 6239) has been introduced in the legislature. The organization Washington United for Marriage issued a press release commending the decision:

OLYMPIA – Washington United for Marriage, a broad statewide coalition of organizations, congregations, unions and business associations that will work to obtain civil marriage for lesbian and gay couples in Washington State in 2012, today applauded the introduction of SB 6239, an act relating to providing equal protection for all families in Washington by creating equality in civil marriage and changing the domestic partnership laws, while protecting religious freedom.  The bill needs 25 votes in the senate for passage and was introduced with 23 sponsors.

“Today we take the next step towards making the promise of equality a reality in Washington State,” said Zach Silk, Campaign Manager for Washington United for Marriage.  “The introduction of this bill not only recognizes the value that lesbian and gay families in Washington make to our united community, but also upholds the longstanding tradition of the separation of church and state in this country.  Marriage is about dignity, commitment, love and respect – it is the ultimate expression of a pro-family society.  The foundation of marriage helps us build stable families, and now is the time to recognize the importance of treating all families in Washington State equally.”

At this time, six states plus the District of Columbia recognize marriage for same-sex couples under state law: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.  Nine states—California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington—provide same-sex couples with access to the state level benefits and responsibilities of marriage, through either civil unions or domestic partnerships.  Same-sex couples do not receive federal rights and benefits in any state.

You can read the full text of the marriage equality bill. It is currently lacking two votes needed to pass in the Senate, where Democrats hold a 27-22 edge, since there are 23 co-sponsors. The Governor, Christine Gregoire, has already announced her strong support for marriage equality.

Celebrity Friday: WA Gov Endorses Marriage Equality

Excellent news! Washington Governor Chris Gregoire announced this week that she will be introducing legislation to enact marriage equality in her state very soon.

Here's an excerpt from the video of the press conference where Governor Gregoire announced her endorsement of marriage equality:

GREGOIRE: Some say domestic partnerships are the same as marriage. That’s a version of the discriminatory, separate but equal argument of the past. For decades that argument was used to keep African Americans separate in schools, at their apartments, at drinking fountains. After all, the argument went, those separate places were just as good. But we, Americans knew, separate is not equal and finally the law caught up. 

[...]

We need to ask ourselves, how would it feel, how would it feel to be a child of a gay couple? How can we tell those children that their parents’ love is seen as unequal under Washington law and that their families are different? We must tell these children and their families that they’re every bit as equal and important as any other family in Washington state.

The Governor and Equal Rights Washington say they do not yet have the votes in the State Senate to pass the legislation but they expect to get them in the heavily Democratic body. After the Governor signs the legislation the heterosexual supremacists will almost definitely file a referendum to have a vote on the measure in 2012. Happily, Washington State advocates for LGBT equality are ready and experienced, having successfully defended the state's comprehensive domestic partnership law in a referendum in November 2009.

Congratulations to Washington!

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress

WA: New Poll Shows Support For Marriage Equality

LGBT Think Progress reports about a new poll in Washington state which demonstrates that marriage equality supporters may have more terrain to play offense on next year. 

Of voters surveyed, 55 percent indicated they would uphold a Legislature-approved same-sex marriage law if it were challenged by referendum. The poll found 38 percent would oppose the law and 7 percent were undecided.

However, additional questions in the poll found that 44 percent of voters surveyed said gays and lesbians should have the same legal right as straight couples to marry; and 22 percent said they should have the same legal rights as married couples, but it should not be called marriage.

Seventeen percent said there should be no legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples. The wide-ranging poll touched on several other issues, including the state budget shortfall.

The Washington Poll surveyed 938 registered voters statewide from Oct. 10-30. It has a plus or minus 3.2 percentage points margin of error.

There are anti-gay marriage ballot measures qualified for the 2012 election in Minnesota and North Carolina.

There are likely to be pro-gay marriages ballot measures in Maine, Maryland, Washington and possibly Oregon.

I predict that there will be more Americans living under marriage equality laws at he end of 2012 than at the end of 2011.

Names Of Referendum 71 Signers Released

Finally! After losing a Supreme Court decision Doe v. Reed last year, the heterosexual supremacists who forced the voters of Washington State to vote on whether that state's comprehensive domestic partnership law should go into effect have lost their battle to keep secret the names of the voters who signed the petitions to get the measure on the ballot.

A federal judge ordered the state of Washington to release the names on Monday, and the Secretary of State released a DVD with 138, 000 names of petitioners to the press.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

The 138,000 people who signed petitions to force a vote on a 2009 domestic partnership law are unlikely to face harassment if their names are disclosed a judge said Friday while ordering the release of signatures.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said the petitioners who advocated for privacy provided only a few experiences of indecent statements and other uncomfortable conversations. Also, there was only speculation that those incidents were connected to the issue, he said.

Disclosure would become the exception, rather than the rule, if just a few instances of harassment were used as the standard for preventing the release of names, Settle said.

And the heterosexual supremacists lost the referendum campaign in 2009 as well. Washington voters approved the referendum (upheld Washington's comprehensive domestic partnership law) and it has been in effect since November 2009.