Washington Expands Domestic Partnerships, Offers Almost-Marriage
The Washington legislature has passed SB 5688, a bill expanding the state's domestic partnership law to include all the rights of marriage. While Washington has had a domestic partnership registry since 2006, the rights afforded to same-sex couples were limited to inherence and hospital visitation. The new bill, which passed 30-18 in the state Senate and 62-35 in the House, expands the law to include:
Any privilege, immunity, right, benefit, or responsibility granted or imposed by statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other law to an individual because the individual is or was a spouse.
Washington joins California, Oregon, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Washington D.C. in offering expanded domestic partnership or civil union recognitions to same-sex couples. It is the only one of the three west coast states not to have a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Have any insight on this topic? Want to ask a question or make a suggestion? Click here to leave a comment.
Related Articles
- Washington Governor Chris Gregoire Signs Expanded Domestic Partnership Bill
- Washington group primed to roll-back newly won rights
- This Week in Gay News Roundup: 11/1 - 11/6
- The Evils of DOMA: COBRA and Health Care
Discussion
Hi Gerald,
You're right, and that is part of the problem. Gay and lesbian couples currently have the same amount of love in their relationships as opposite-sex couples, and they have the same kindness toward their children, the same worries about money, the same dreams of owning a home, and the same hopes for their family's future. But there is one thing they don't have the same: rights.
Without the rights of marriage, these couples might face restrictions in raising their children because some states do not let them jointly adopt. They lose thousands of dollars in taxes because the federal government will not recognize their union. They have difficulty finding a home because some states permit discrimination against same-sex couples in housing. They lose opportunities for hope because some people cannot recognize their family as a family.
So I agree with you, Gerald, that we are not equal and that we do not have what you have with your wife. But this is something that needs to change and, with time, will. I only hope that we stop marginalizing families soon before more men and woman are denied the basic right to be with their loved one as he or she dies alone in a hospital room.
- Brian Cavner, 04/16/09 at 7:26 pmHave a question or comment about this article? Leave me a message.
Playing house is not the same as real marriage. You will always only be two perverts pretending and playing make believe in your own little fantasy world. You are not equal to me and my wife and never will be. Grow up.
- gerald, 04/16/09 at 5:54 pm