[Vision2020] Washington State Senate OKs Domestic Partnership Bill

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (March 2, 2007) Spokesman Review -

Washington State Senate Bill 5336
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Stuff/WA_State_Senate_Bill_5336.pdf

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Senate OKs domestic partnership bill
Richard Roesler
Staff writer
March 1, 2007

OLYMPIA - In emotional debate, the state Senate today voted to set up a
statewide registry that would allow gay and lesbian couples, as well as some
senior citizens, to get many of the legal protections that married couples
get automatically.

"You have prevented us from marrying," Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, told the
Senate. "Please do not prevent us from caring for each other."

Same-sex couples in Washington have been denied the right to hold each
other's hand while one is dying in a hospital room, he said, or to be buried
next to each other.

"Justice demands that we take a small step on a longer journey to end that
hurt," he said. That longer journey, he said, is the right for gays and
lesbians to marry - something that this bill doesn't do. 

The bill passed today would make Washington the fifth state to give some
spousal rights to same-sex partners.

The bill was blasted by critics, mostly Republicans.

"We have watched this incremental movement as it has slowly eroded the
sanctity of marriage," said Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington. She said the
Senate is "acquiescing to gay rights" and "giving away the building blocks
of society" one at a time.

The bill passed 28 yes to 19 no. It now goes to the state House of
Representatives, where it is widely supported. If it passes there, it heads
to Gov. Chris Gregoire for a signature. The governor has repeatedly said she
supports such an approach, rather than legalizing same-sex marriage. The
bill would take effect 90 days after the session ends April 22.

Critics tried unsuccessfully to tack on an amendment to force a November
public vote that would either uphold or kill the bill.

"I've never been afraid of the citizens making decisions, and this is
certainly one that they should be allowed to make," said Sen. Don Benton,
R-Vancouver.

Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, predicted a public backlash. The bill
contains no emergency clause, he pointed out, so it's vulnerable to a voter
referendum if critics can gather enough signatures to put it on the November
ballot.

"Ultimately, I think the public will have a say," Schoesler said. 

Under current state law, spouses automatically get a long list of rights and
powers. They can consent to medical procedures for a spouse who can't. They
can get and disclose medical information. They can consent to autopsies,
oversee funeral and burial arrangements. If a spouse dies without a will,
the surviving spouse automatically gets certain inheritance rights. 

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.

The bill, Senate Bill 5336, would allow the Secretary of State to launch a
registry for unmarried domestic partners. To qualify, they must they must:

-live together, 

-be at least 18 years old, 

-not be married or in a domestic partnership with someone else,

-not be close blood-relatives,

-and be the same sex, or at least one of the partners must be at least 62
years old.

The senior citizens provision is aimed primarily at widows and widowers who
are in committed relationships with someone else, but who cannot marry
because they would lose pension or other payments linked to their deceased
spouse.

The registry would grant the partners numerous rights, including:

-visitation rights at health care facilities, 

-the ability to consent to medical procedures for an incapacitated partner,

-rights to cemetery plots, autopsy decisions and organ donation,

-inheritance rights if the domestic partner dies with no will.

At hearings earlier this year, lesbian and gay couples said they must spend
hundreds or thousands of dollars on legal work to get the same sorts of
rights and protections that married heterosexual couples get the day they
marry. Some described heart-wrenching cases of being turned away from
hospital rooms of sick or dying partners, or of not being able to make
funeral decisions for longtime loved ones.

Critics included the state Catholic conference and several other religious
groups. Among the arguments: that this is the first step toward same-sex
marriage, that the bill discriminates against younger heterosexual couples
who choose not to marry, and that the bill waters down the reasons for
getting married.

The debate today was wide-ranging and emotional, including the ideals of the
American revolution, bomb-wielding terrorists, gay and lesbian troops and
firefighters, and mentions of necrophilia and bestiality.

Stevens said she resented Murray's suggestion that religion calls for
justice - and passing the bill.

"Some people worship money," she said. "Some people worship what they do in
their bedroom. Some people even worship witchcraft."

Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, said the change would be "a devastating blow"
to marriage, and predicted that further expansion of it in coming years
would reduce part of the reason for straight couples to get married.

"I'm very concerned about the future of marriage," he said.

Benton said that gay couples can get virtually all the rights in the bill by
drafting a will and filling out other legal paperwork.

"The rights are there. They're available," he said. "They're not available
automatically unless you're married."

Democrats said they're perplexed by the resistance.

"What does this legislation do that threatens anybody else in this state?"
said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. 

"These are real people with real, live issues that are not so different than
the kinds of issues that any of you can imagine," said Senate Majority
Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, who has a lesbian sister. ". I'm voting for
people like my sister and her partner."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in
Albany, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida, and many other campaigns of the
Civil Rights Movement.  Many of these courageous men and women were fighting
for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and
I salute their contributions."

- Coretta Scott King (March 30, 1998)