Washington state poised to enact same-sex marriage law

Olympia, WA, United States (AHN) – Washington state is poised to legalize same-sex marriage following passage of legislation in the state House, a victory for rights advocates who early this week celebrated a court ruling striking down California’s ban on gay marriage.

The House voted 55-43 to approve the bill introduced less than a month ago at the request of Gov. Chris Gregoire. The vote held Wednesday night followed a relatively civil debate, in contrast to the emotional deliberations last week in the state Senate, where Democrats hold a smaller majority and there was danger of the measure being derailed.

“I want to compliment those folks who did vote against and speak against the legislation for their decorum,” Rep. Jim Moeller, speaker pro tempore, said after the vote. “I have never doubted their sincerity, and I was proud of their propriety.”

Republican Rep. Matt Shea said in a statement he was “extremely disappointed” with the vote.

“We entered the 2012 legislative session… with a $1.5 billion budget deficit and more than 300,000 people across Washington without jobs,” Shea said. “We are now more than halfway through the scheduled 60-day session and to date, the majority party has not brought forward a budget and… they have pushed these issues aside.”

The bill protects religious groups and “faith-based social service organizations” from having to perform same-sex marriages against their beliefs.

Before the vote, the House similarly rejected a proposal to provide protection from lawsuits to businesses such as restaurants that refuse to provide services for a same-sex marriage.

The measure passed in the state Senate 28-21. The companion House bill was authored by Rep. Jamie Pedersen, an openly gay lawmaker who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.

Gregoire, a Democrat who previously opposed gay marriage due to her Catholicism, has assured she would sign the legislation into law. Enactment would make Washington the seventh state, and eighth jurisdiction including the District of Columbia, to allow same-sex marriage.

Conservatives led by the Family Policy Institute of Washington and the National Organization for Marriage believe the bill would be repealed if they put the question of gay marriage on the ballot in the general election in November. They have until June to gather the required 120,557 signatures to hold a referendum.

“Get ready for a referendum,” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, tweeted after the vote.”

Final approval in the Washington legislature came two days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declared Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage, unconstitutional.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and in the District of Columbia.

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