The Washington state Supreme Court announced today that it will issue its long awaited ruling on same-sex marriage on Wednesday.

The case hinges on how the nine justices interpret 34 words in the state constitution. The key passage is Article 1, Section 12, which says, "No law shall be passed granting to any citizen... privileges or immunities which upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens."

That section sounds very similar to that of Oregon's Article 1, Section 20--that is until 2004 when voters passed Measure 36.

Washington is obviously very hopeful and have been waiting a very long time for this ruling. There is no telling what direction the ruling will go, but some are predicting that it will be a ruling in which the court more refers the issue to the Washington State Legislature to resolve.

If they do in fact rule that under Washington's Article 1, Section 12 and Washington's laws currently discriminatory, it would seem as if Washington would be the second state in the US to permit same-sex marriage.

The court could through out the state's law limiting marriage to opposite sex couples, uphold the existing law or say that the issue should be determined by the legislature.

The case went to the high court following two lower court verdicts.

In a historic ruling in 2004, King County Superior Court Judge William Downing said that the Washington State Constitution guarantees basic rights to lesbian and gay people -- and that those rights are violated by a state law prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying.

The case involved eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in King County.

One month later, a court in Thurston County ruled similarly.

Both decisions were appealed by the state to the Supreme Court, which leaves us where we are today. We'll report as soon as the decision comes down tomorrow morning. It should be at/around 8:30am.

-G.S.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 8:20 PM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.