By Maida Suljevic
For The Reporter
This week the Washington State Senate secured the votes necessary to pass Gov. Christine Gregoire’s gay-marriage bill.
Tenth District Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen’s (D – Camano Island) announcement to support the legislation on Monday (Jan. 23), gave the Senate the necessary 25 votes to support the legislation, assuring its passage in that legislative body.
Earlier in the session, the House registered enough votes to move its version of the bill through the legislative process.
Both the Senate and House versions of the governor’s priority legislation drew scores of visitors to the capitol campus for hearings Monday, with testimony both supportive of and opposed to the two bills.
Senators Steve Litzow (R – 41st District, Mercer Island) and Rodney Tom (D – 48th District, Bellevue) have supported the legislation from the get-go.
Litzow is one of two senate Republicans sponsoring the bill. “I believe it’s the right thing to do,” he said. He also considers himself a “big supporter of non-discrimination.”
Litzow believes that supporting the gay-marriage bills represents fundamental Republican beliefs of individual freedom and personal responsibility, and therefore he isn’t worried about potential backlash from Republicans.
“Our district is widely in favor of it,” said Tom, referring to the marriage equality bill.
Tom also believes that the legislation would grant equality and opportunity to those who’ve been in long committed civil relationships in the lesbian and gay communities.
“I do think it is a civil right,” said Tom.
Senate Bill 6239 and its companion House Bill 2516 would change the definition of marriage to mean a civil contract between two persons rather than between a man and a woman.
The bills also allow for religious exemption. The legislation would not require officials of church or religious denominations to perform same-sex marriages nor would they be penalized for refusing to do so.
Nonetheless, the legislation remains a controversial and emotive issue.
“To me there should be a separation of church and state,” said Tom.
If this becomes law, gay and lesbian couples could start getting married in June.
Once passed and signed by the governor, Washington would become the seventh state to legalize gay-marriage joining Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.
