News

Lawmakers aim to expand domestic partnerships

http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2008/01/lawmakers_aim_to_expand_domest.html

OLYMPIA - After Washington enacted a law in July 2007 that gave same-sex couples legal recognition, more than 3,300 couples from all parts of the state registered as domestic partners.

In hearings Tuesday in the state's Legislature, several of those couples voiced support for a bill that would expand that law to give same-sex couples the same rights that married couples have in divorces, property, estates, taxes, and guardianships.

With his partner, Eric, and infant son sitting with him, Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, introduced the bill to the House Judiciary Committee.

"Our work last year was only a start," Pedersen said. "Domestic partners still lack the vast majority of protections that married couples take for granted in Washington."

The bill's aim and scope are almost identical to an Oregon law that allows for domestic partnerships. That law was supposed to take effect Jan. 2, but has been held up in court after opponents challenged it.

In Washington, 59 legislators in the House are co-sponsoring the measure, which has a companion bill going through the Senate and is sponsored by Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and 25 other Senators.

Murray was the driving force behind legislation passed in 2006 that outlawed discrimination due to sexual orientation in housing and employment. The bill was a landmark for gay rights advocates, who had been trying to get the measure passed since the 1970s.

Advocates' drive for more legal protection suffered a setback later that year, however, when the Washington State Supreme Court upheld a ban on gay marriage. With the ban upheld, they began pushing for domestic partnerships as the way to secure legal recognition and protections.

Although the measures before the Legislature this year make no mention of marriage, opponents criticized the bills as a step toward eventually overturning the ban on gay marriage.