Governor Signs Wa. Partner Bill

Posted: April 21, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET

(Olympia, Washington) Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law Saturday legislation to give gay and lesbian couples some of the rights that come with marriage.

The domestic partnership bill will create a domestic partnership registry with the state, and provide enhanced rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations and inheritance rights when there is no will.

To be registered, couples would have to share a home, not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.

Unmarried, heterosexual senior couples would also be eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner were at least 62. Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.

Gregoire signed the measure Saturday morning in the state Reception Room in front of LGBT civil rights activists who had fought for passage of the law.

The bill passed its final hurdle earlier this month.

In January during Senate hearings a woman whose same-sex partner died as a result of flooding s month earlier told lawmakers that she had difficulty getting into the hospital to see her dying lover.

In emotional testimony Charlene Strong told how partner Kate Fleming got trapped in the basement studio where she ran an audio company. As the water rose she was unable to open the door to get out.

Rescuers finally broke through and rushed Fleming to an area hospital.

But at the hospital Strong was told told she could not be with her dying partner of nearly 10 years because she was not a relative. Finally officials relented when a family member interceded. Fleming died moments later.

Even as she tried to plan Fleming's funeral Strong faced roadblocks.

Strong told committee members that if they had been an opposite-sex married couple, or had civil union rights she would have had no trouble.

Last July the Washington Supreme Court upheld the state's so-called Defense of Marriage Act that limits marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The court cited the argument that marriage was designed for the procreation of children. But the court noted the legislature could overturn the law or amend it to include gay pairs.

Gay and lesbian couples denied marriage licenses filed suit in 2004. Two lower courts ruled that the state law barring gay marriage was unconstitutional and the the high court heard arguments in the case in March 2005.

If they had campaigned for civil unions/partnerships from the outset, homosexual activists could have realised their ambitions years ago.

It was the campaign to redefine marriage that raised all the brouhaha, and thankfully the battle to save traditional marriage has now been won.

that's all well and good.. but i'm afraid that "marriage" is no more secure as a tradition now.

The BIGGEST threat to conventional marriage is divorce. Most industrialized nations now have divorce rates of 50%. That means HALF of all marriages fail.

Has the legislation against same-sex marriage had ANY effect on that.. not at all.

Since the dawn of history, the conditions under which people live together have constantly changed. Polygamy in Polyandry a VAST array of forms, followed by limited polygamy, to today's exclusive monogamy... well these are all different steps taken in which the previous understanding of spousal love, duties and rights have been redefined to fit the need of the day.

To give homosexual couples the same legal rights as spouses has NO EFFECT on whether people will continue to rape the concept of marriage. I would think that the inability of a heterosexual man or woman to stay true to their spouse is the GREATER threat to "traditional marriage".

Marriage is no safer because of this bill. The ONLY effect it has had is to marginalize certain people... oh and of course given your conscience a boost as you seem to have truly "fought the good fight.. for freedom and morality". Incidentally when you start dictating morality, 'Freedom" is the first right to go.

"Traditional" marriage in your eyes is evidently losing. The governor signed the bill into law.

Nontheless, this is good news for gay couples in Washington.

As unfair as all this is, I have to think that at least the initial fight for gay couples is a means of domestic partnership. That way you wouldn't have issues like this one where the partner can't even be with their dying loved one. Like I said, it's unfair, but it might make more sense to get what you can get when full marriage for gay couples is so difficult.

This is a step in the right direction, but I would encourage homosexuals to continue fighting until they can be married. Separate names for the same institution will only create division.

How can it be the same institution when a same sex couple is different from an opposite sex couple?

They are both in a romantic and legal relationship, just like a heterosexual couple. The only difference is what happens behind closed doors, and that's not even what the relationship is about.