With Bill,
Washington State Shifts Its Views on Marriage
Published: January 16, 2012 - New York Times
SEATTLE — The
bill that would legalize same-sex
marriage in Washington State is notable not just for the boldness of its
ambition or for the fact that it was proposed by Gov. Christine
Gregoire, a Democrat whose last memorable remarks on the issue placed her
firmly in the not-yet camp.
What is also striking is that some of the legislators sponsoring the measure
can recall earlier debates — held years ago and sometimes only internally — in
which they were certain they would oppose such a law.
“I was a no,” recalled Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, a Democrat from the
Seattle suburb of Bothell, and now a sponsor.
But that was back in the 1990s, when Ms. McAuliffe said an early version of a
marriage bill circulated in the Legislature. Over time, the senator said, “I met
the families, I met the children of those families, and I had the realization
that it is our responsibility to protect all of our citizens against
discrimination.”
The bill, which Ms. Gregoire filed last week, would make Washington the
seventh state where same-sex couples are allowed to marry. Washington, D.C.,
also permits it, and supporters here are cautiously optimistic. The bill
sponsors say that they are just a few votes short, and that several undecided
lawmakers could vote yes.
In 1998, Washington passed a law saying only a man and woman could marry, and
the State Supreme Court upheld the law in 2006. But the state has also taken
steady steps to expand rights for gay couples. In 2006, it passed a civil rights
bill that recognized domestic partnerships. In 2009, it approved what has become
known as an “everything but marriage” law.
Opponents challenged that law through a ballot referendum, but voters upheld
it, 53 to 47 percent. As recently as 2008, when she was seeking her second term,
Ms. Gregoire suggested that churches should decide the issue. But in her State
of the State address this month, the governor said, “Let’s tell the children of
our same-sex couples that their parents’ relationship is equal to all others in
the state.”
In an interview, the governor, a former state attorney general, said, “I’m a
lawyer, I’m a wife, I’m a mom, I’m governor. I’m also a Catholic, and I have
struggled with this issue for the last seven years.”
This is Ms. Gregoire’s final year in office (she has decided not to seek a
third term), and many people have speculated that she is supporting same-sex
marriage only now that the political risk of doing so has diminished. But the
governor said her position had evolved, in part through conversations with her
two daughters.
“They’ve grown up with kids who’ve got two moms and two dads, and they just
think this generation needs to get over it,” she said.
The governor said she had been preparing to address the issue this session
since the fall.
“In the middle of the night, I’d wake up and come up with an argument I heard
and I would work through that argument,” she said. “I think I’ve attacked
straight on any argument that has been advanced on the subject. You can respect
the rights of the churches to decide who they will marry, but at the same time
you can’t sit here as governor and have somebody come into an office say, ‘I
want a license,’ and say, ‘No, we’re going to discriminate. We’re from the
state.’ ”
The Washington bill is modeled on the law passed
by New York last summer, which included language clarifying that religious
groups and churches are not required to marry same-sex partners.
Senator Ed Murray, a Seattle Democrat who is chairman of the powerful Ways
and Means Committee, has been one of the most persistent advocates for same-sex
marriage in the Legislature. Mr. Murray said Ms. Gregoire strengthened
protections for religious groups beyond what he had proposed to her.
Some of the same lawmakers who led opposition to the state’s
“everything-but-marriage” law and supported the referendum to defeat it say they
will organize a coalition to defeat a marriage law, should this bill pass the
Legislature. On Friday, a group of Roman Catholic bishops in Washington issued a
statement opposing the new bill and praising the state’s existing law for
recognizing “the unique and irreplaceable potential of a man and woman to
conceive and nurture new life, thus contributing to the continuation of the
human race.”
Mr. Murray, noting that Washington’s petition-friendly political system makes
any bill passed by the Legislature vulnerable, said he and others had worked
since last spring to build support behind the scenes, anticipating a battle in
the Legislature but also at the polls.
“I’m a little concerned that people are popping the Champagne corks,” he
said. “They need to remember it took us years to find one vote on the civil
rights bill and we’re several votes short on the marriage bill. We’re very
close, but we don’t have the votes yet.”