Washington state legislature votes to approve same-sex marriage

[link=http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/08/us/washington-same-sex-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_t1]It's shaping up to be a bad week for those who prefer stand on the wrong side of history[/link]


[blockquote](CNN) -- Lawmakers in Washington State voted Wednesday in favor of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage.

"With today's vote, we tell the nation that Washington state will no longer deny our citizens the opportunity to marry the person they love," said Gov. Chris Gregoire. "We tell every child of same-sex couples that their family is every bit as equal and important as all other families in our state. And we take a major step toward completing a long and important journey to end discrimination based on sexual orientation."

Once signed by Gregoire, it would make Washington the seventh state to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

The law would go into effect in June, when the legislative session ends, unless opponents seek to halt its implementation by putting it on the November 2012 ballot.

The 55-43 vote in the House included two Republicans in support of the bill, said Thalia Cepatos, director of public engagement for Freedom to Marry. The Senate vote last week was 28-21 and included four Republicans.

Advocates of same-sex marriage have followed several paths toward legality in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, New York and the District of Columbia.

"in each state, the question of marriage has come up either through the courts, through the legislatures or directly at the ballot," Cepato said. "I think this demonstrates the growing support nationally amongst Republicans, Democrats and Independents who see that allowing committed and loving, same-sex couples to get married does not take anything away from the marriages of their friends, neighbors and family members."

But the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes the law, has already said it will seek to gather the 120,577 signatures needed to put the issue to voters as a referendum in Novermber, she said.

The group did not immediately return a call.

The benefits of same-sex marriage translate into benefits for the larger community, she said, citing one study that predicted $88 million in additional spending would occur in Washington once the practice becomes legal. "It's a real boost for small business in particular," she said.[/blockquote]


My state > your state (unless you live in MA, VT, NH, CT, IA, NY or Future CA, man!)

 

What about marrying a horse?

 

Yup, we Washingtonians are a bit ahead of the curve. I wonder how much the Gov's public "change of heart" (from neutral to in favor)helped. She came out publicly in favor and explained why; kudos to her and she's not even running for election.

Of course we have our share of (fill in) who are trying to get enough signatures to force a referendum to reverse this. I'm not sure they'll have enough votes to get it on the ballot, but if they do, I doubt it'll pass.

Edited to address the newly added post above mine: Nah, some of the rural folks engage in, er, marital activities with horses, but no marriages I've heard of. OF course, that's around the area where one is more likely to find a higher percentage of folks opposed to same-sex marriage.

 

I'd love you to move here, Anakinfan...think of the wonderful in-person discussions of all things SW we could have if we weren't limited to the written word!

Unfortunately, while I am in favor of supporting Starbucks, I hate their coffee. I always preferred Seattle's Best. Mochas are fine.

 

Seattle (despite the horrid weather) is a city I could see myself living in.


[hl=purple]Los Angeles Lakers: Drama, guaranteed. [/hl]

 

It may not rain there as much as I think it might, but certainly (obviously) there's a a lot more rain annually in Seattle than here in La La Land. I very much like my constant sunshine.


[hl=purple]Los Angeles Lakers: Drama, guaranteed. [/hl]

 

We get less annual rain than Atlanta - we just spread it out over the winter season (all year minus August - local joke ).

Seriously, summer's nice and usually a good bit of fall.

We just came off a 3 day streak of 60 degrees, blue skies, sunny days (2 days is a streak here this time of year) - of course, we did have snow about 3 weeks ago (up to 16" in some areas) but snow is pretty rare around here - so are 90+ days.

Yup, a perfect summer day is high 70's so we can sleep at night - we don't have air-conditioning around here except in our cars.

 

I shall watch episodes of Frasier in celebration of this news.

 

ENUMCLAW!!

 

Opponents could put it on the November ballot? Ugh.

 

Like Maine. But I bet if Maine put it back on the ballot now, it would pass. It will probably be close for Washington, but I think it could pass.

 

Glad to see legislative process at work in Washington.

 

JUST MORE PROOF THAT NOBODY IN SEATTLE HAS MORALS

 

I live across the lake...so I've got morals.


Note: sarcasm detector is off-line. What's allowing other folks to get married have to do with morals? Morals relates to how each individual lives his or her own lives.

 

It's far more immoral to force someone to adhere to morals than it is to let them choose their own way. You'd think people would understand this, considering we're fighting the Taliban on the other side of the world.

 

Meanwhile, over here, the new (conservative) government is trying to get our current same-sex marriage laws declared unconstitutional.

IT'S THE CIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE

 

I do blame the Indignados for crap like that. Quickly, everything is going to hell, time to give an absolute majority to those guys we really, really can't stand. :/

 

Yeah, very disappointing.

Anyway, it's not like the "socialists" were much better. Sure, they threw us a couple of social-friendly bones (Gay marriage! Non-medieval abortion laws!), but their economic and laboral agenda wasn't that different from the conservatives'.

 

spaniards are natural untermenschen and require a dictatorship

stalinism is the best you can aspire to

 

Kendra, how do you feel about the fact that you'll be forced to marry a woman now?

 

it's true that if we all get gay married and remain monogomous we can solve those things in like sixty years.