Source:
Associated Press via Seattle Times,
Spokesman Review 
Seattle – Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed three bills this morning that backers say complete work the state’s domestic partnership laws.
“They will make for stronger families, and when we have stronger families, we have a stronger Washington state,” she said.
Crowded into a Seattle community center, proponents called it the right thing to do, Spokesman Review reports.
Gregoire signed the related set of bills during a ceremony held at Montlake Community Center in Seattle. One is a general bill expanding the rights and responsibilities of domestic partners. Two related bills clarify the pension and retirement rights of state workers in a domestic partnership.
The bills, which were known as the ‘everything but marriage’ laws in the legislature, explicitly add the partnerships to all remaining areas of state law where only married couples had been mentioned. The changes offer more protection, such as public pension benefits, for domestic partners and their children.
Washington governor signs final expansion of domestic partnerships [contd.]
They are the third set of measures passed in successive sessions of the legislature, Associated Press reports.
More than 5,300 domestic partnership registrations had been filed in Washington since July 2007 when the first limited set domestic partnership laws took effect.
“It’s a good next step,” said Spokane’s Kyla Bates of today’s expansion of the law.
Bates and her partner of 22 years, Lori Rodriguez, are registered partners. They have a 7-year-old daughter. “Obviously, I would prefer marriage and all the legal ramifications that go along with it,” she said.
Bates told Richard Roesler of the Spokesman Review that the couple found out six years ago what it’s like not to have such protections. The couple and their then-infant daughter were in a car wreck.
Even though the couple had spent thousands of dollars on legal paperwork to ensure that they would be able to make medical decisions for each other, the preparations proved inadequate, she said.
“At the hospital, they wouldn’t let me in the emergency room with either one of them, because I didn’t have the documentation with me,” said Bates. “For us, it was a huge wakeup call.”
Sen. Ed Murray (D-Seattle) has spearheaded the effort to establish the domestic partnership laws – an effort that gained traction in the legislature after a 2006 state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a 1998 law known as DOMA which bans marriage equality.
Even though a split majority of the court upheld the anti-equality law, a majority of justices recommended legislative action to compensate for what they said was unfair treatment of gay and lesbian couples.
The initial domestic partnership law that passed in 2007 granted hospital visitation, funeral decisions, and some inheritance rights to couples who registered. Same-sex couples are eligible for the registry, as are senior citizen heterosexual couples.
Bills passed last year gave domestic partners standing under laws covering probate and trusts, community property, and guardianship.
Both Murray and Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle), who spearheaded efforts in the house, have said that this year’s legislation completes the legislature’s work on domestic partnerships.
Murray, who is one of six out gay members of the current legislature, told AP that the incremental approach to domestic partnerships was adopted as a strategic plan.
“We needed to have a multiyear discussion with the state on gay and lesbian families,” Murray explained to AP’s Rachel La Corte. “I believe DOMA won't long be the law of the state because those conversations are changing hearts and minds around the state.”
"The culture has changed," Murray said in the AP interview. "And as the culture changes, the politics changes."
Murray cautioned, however, that the state may not yet be ready to grant full marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples and warned it should not be sought too quickly.
He pointed to the experience in California where the legislature twice passed marriage equality bills that were vetoed by the governor. After the state’s high court recognized marriage equality a year ago, the recognition stripped when Prop. 8 passed in November.
Indeed, some opponents of same-sex marriage in Washington have already filed Referendum 71, which seeks to overturn the latest domestic partnership expansion.
Opponents need to get more than 120,500 valid voter signatures by July 25 in order to qualify the measure for the November ballot and also face dissention among anti-gay political coalitions.
A prominent anti-gay activist has publicly criticized the referendum campaign, saying that right-wing forces should instead get ready to fight any upcoming same-sex marriage effort in the state.
“Why fight a battle you can't win? It will cause you to lose a war you can win,” said Joseph Fuiten, a Bothell pastor who is leader of Positive Christian Agenda. “It will undermine our position when it comes to fighting the marriage battle.”
Five states have legalized same-sex marriage: Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Iowa through court order; Vermont and Maine through legislative action.
New Hampshire’s legislature has approved a marriage equality bill. The state’s governor announced last week that he will sign the measure if the legislature makes some minor changes to the bill – changes that are expected to be adopted quickly by the legislature.
Bills to recognize marriage equality are currently before lawmakers in New York and New Jersey.
New Jersey, California, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia have laws that either recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships that afford same-sex couples similar rights to marriage. Thirty states have gay marriage bans in their constitutions, according to AP’s count.
Source: Gregoire signs “everything but marriage” law | Spokesman Review
Challenge to domestic partnership expansion filed | Seattle Times