Gay partnership measure approved by voters

[WillParkinson]

Gay partnership measure approved by voters
By The Associated Press
11.06.2009 8:22am EST

(Olympia, Wash.) Washington voters have approved the state’s new “everything but marriage” law, expanding rights for domestic partners and marking the first time any state’s voters have approved a gay equality measure at the ballot box.

With about 72 percent of the expected vote counted Thursday in unofficial returns, Referendum 71 was leading 52 percent to 48 percent, with a margin of about 60,000 votes.

Sen. Ed Murray, a Seattle Democrat who spearheaded the law, called it “a great step forward for equality in Washington state.”

“I’m relieved,” he said. “I was very concerned that if the voters had said no, it would have been a major setback for gay and lesbian families in Washington state.”

The measure asked voters to approve or reject the latest expansion of the state’s domestic partnership law, granting registered domestic partners additional state rights previously given only to married couples.

Full-fledged gay marriage is still not allowed under Washington law.

http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-partnership-measure-approved-by-voters/

[LuvNewcastle]

1. That's great news!

Congratulations to the people of Washington state.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Full-fledged gay marriage is still not allowed under Washington law.

But within 10 years it will be.

After 10 years or so of full equality, the ignorant scared of change morans will come to realize that society has NOT collapsed by gays getting equal rights, and will be OK with the word 'marriage' being attached to gay unions.

It is the rights that are important, not the words.

And it really makes no difference anyway so long as DOMA exists - as long as DOMA stands there will be no equal rights no matter what the states do.

[SPedigrees]

4. I could not agree with you more. nt

[Toasterlad]

7. It's Not the Water Fountains That Are Important, It's the Water.

[joeybee12]

3. It is a step forward...not a pony, of course, but good news...n/t

[frazzled]

5. I think the ballot question itself is at issue in this success

I think if you straightforwardly ask people to support something positive and just, they will.

The ballot questions in California and Maine may not really have reflected voters' opinions because they were (a) negative; and (b) extremely confusing. People were asked to vote yes to oppose gay marriage and no to support it. While the politcically active and engaged can handle this, the average person may have been entirely confused. I have suspected that a lot of people who intended to say yes in support of gay marriage ended up opposing it by voting "yes."

In general, I hate ballot initiatives and wish they didn't exist. Especially in the case of civil rights issues, there is no reason on earth why a majority of people should be able to vote to deny civil rights to a minority. The Washington ballot initiative is the exception. But casual observance over the years on ballot issues from taxes to civil rights leads me to believe that for every good issue that gets passed in this way, there are 8 bad ones that are passed. Direct democracy is not my favorite form of legislation ... and the founding parents didn't like the idea much either.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. It does make the whole system more open to demagoguery.

And demagoguery tends to work best on the uninformed and irrational. It stacks the deck against rational discourse, which is needed for democracy to work.

[FreeState]

8. WA State has only approved 6 referendums in the history of the state

thats saying something. I think the way the question was worded (non-double negative) definitely helped as well as the large amount of educated liberals in the Puget Sound.

[Riverman]

9. WA Leads the Way! I was just in Seattle visiting my boyfriend

this week and watched the results with a few gay friends. Was thrilled that the vote has moved further to assure this victory! As a resident of Calif, I look forward to a similar victory when this is back on the ballot in 2012! Off year elections are a bitch with the rigid fundamentalist, and seniors findng their way to the polls while the rest of us wait to be inspired on Presidential election years to go vote our conscience. Fortunately, in WA there was not much on the ballot to bring out the rural voters and there was fierce competition for the King Co Executive and the Mayor of Seattle which brought out big numbers, mostly liberal, moderate and environmentalists to the polls most of whom supported Initiative 71. An anti-government taxing initiative also failed big in WA.