Same-sex marriage & domestic partnerships

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Activity in Washington State

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Quotations:

	"If marriage means everything, it means absolutely nothing." Dr. James C. Dobson, of Focus on the Family.
	"A loving man and woman in a committed relationship can marry. Dogs, no matter what their relationship, are not allowed to marry. How should society treat gays and lesbians in committed relationships? As dogs or as humans?" A posting to an Internet mailing list; used by permission of the author.

Synopsis:

	1998: The Washington state legislature passed a Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It restricts marriage within the state to the union of one man and one woman.
	2004: Six same-sex couples attempted to obtain marriage licenses. They were refused and launched a lawsuit. For the first time, a U.S. court declared a DOMA act unconstitutional.
	2004: Eleven same-sex couples repeated the same sequence with the same result.
	2005: The Washington Supreme Court overturned both lawsuits, declaring the DOMA law constitutional.
	2007: The state legislature and governor passed a domestic partnership law.
	2009: The legislature and governor passed an enhanced domestic partnership law with all of the state benefits that had previously been a special privilege of opposite-sex married couples. Conservative Christian groups have mounted Referendum R-71 to repeal the law.
	2009-NOV-03: Washington state voters went to the polls to vote on R-71. They appear to have narrowly passed the "everything but marriage" bill.

Topics covered in this section:

	More quotations, overview, King County Lawsuit
	King County Lawsuit (Cont'd)
	Thurston County lawsuit
	Ruling of the Washington Supreme Court
	2007: Legislative activity to create domestic partnerships
	2008-2009: Legislative activity to enhance domestic partnerships
	2009: Referendum 71: an attempt to veto domestic partnership law
	2006-2009 public opinion polls on same-sex marriage & domestic partnerships
	Referendum 71 Groups supporting and opposing R-71 Polls on R-71

Copyright © 2004 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2004-SEP-12
Latest update: 2009-SEP-27
Author: B.A. Robinson

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