Washington State Considers Domestic Partnerships Bill

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Washington State Representative Ed Murray (D-Seattle). Image courtesy of the Washington State House of Representatives.

Five openly gay members of the Washington State Legislature have proposed a new domestic partnerships law designed, in the words of co-sponsor Rep. Ed Murray (D-Seattle), to "provide some remedy, some relief and some humanity to couples until they can marry and enjoy the full rights and benefits." Both houses of Washington's state legislature are predominantly Democratic and regarded as socially progressive, as is Governor Chris Gregoire (D-WA), but it is not yet clear whether or not these elected officials will stand up on this issue and support an actual legislative item.

Under the new bill, registered partners would be entitled to hospital visitation, spousal medical consent, and inheritance rights, but would not receive the same level of benefits provided under California's more robust domestic partnerships law.

Local coverage of the legislation is, to put it mildly, strange. The headline of Longview's The Daily News reads: "Wash lawmakers unveil bill seeking same-sex marriage." The legislation actually being pursued is domestic partnership legislation. One wonders if this newspaper refers to abortion parental notification laws as "bills seeking a ban on abortion," or to English-only laws as "bills seeking the expulsion of all undocumented immigrants." Journalists' tendency to describe all legal recognition of same-sex couples as "gay marriage" seems unfair, given polls consistently showing that most Americans support granting some spousal benefits to same-sex couples but do not support referring to these benefits as marriage.

See also:

• Benefits of Domestic Partnerships