After a hard fought battle in the legislature, Washington's newly passed Domestic Partnership law will go into effect this Monday. The registry grants some legal standing (less than a dozen rights and responsibilities) for same-sex couples and straight couples where at least one of the persons is 62 years or older. Both critics and supporters of the new law say the issue is far from settled.

Josh Friedes of Equal Rights Washington has said that from day one-even on the day they announced Domestic Partnerships, the first sentence out of their mouth was something to the tune of, "Don't get us wrong, we won't stop until we have full equal marriage."

Couples who register will have some of the same rights and obligations that married couples have. Those rights include hospital visitation rights, participation in medical care decisions, and inheritance rights. But the couples will not be able to file their federal taxes jointly or receive partner benefits from Social Security or other federal rights.

Washington is different as the residents cannot vote for a constitutional amendment as they can here in Oregon and many other states. What does this mean? It means that they will never have a constitutional amendment banning marriage for same-sex couples. The legislature would have vote on that and that will never happen.

Washington should be applauded for this small but necessary win for basic fairness for all Washington families and for keeping up the fight for full marriage equality.

Labels: domestic partnership, washington

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 10:51 AM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.