Washington State House Passes Same Sex Marriage

The Seattle Post Intelligencer is reporting that the Washington State House has passed the same sex marriage bill previously passed last week by that state's Senate. The next stop will be the desk of Governor Christine Gregoire (she's pictured above center) who has made it clear that she will sign the measure into law. Meanwhile the forces of hate lead by - at least in my view - psychologically disturbed Christofascists (more on this in a coming post) - are threatening to place marriage equality up for vote on a referendum. Given yesterday's ruling by the 9th Circuit in Perry v. Brown, even if this effort were to prevail, the rescission would be unconstitutional. Consequently, it will be interesting to see whether or not the forces of hate and intolerance move to make good on their threat. Here are some story highlights:

The state House of Representatives, after two hours of intense debate, voted 55-43 on Wednesday to make Washington the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. The legislation passed the State Senate last week, and goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire who has promised to sign it into law. Gregoire, one of several Catholic governors who support marriage equality, watched House debate from the wings.

“This is truly a historic day in Washington state and one where I couldn’t be more proud,” Gregoire said in a statement. “With today’s vote, we tell the nation that Washington state will no longer deny our citizens the opportunity to marry the person they love.”

But opponents have vowed to collect 120,577 valid voter signatures required to force a referendum in this November’s general election. They have until June 6th to do so.

“Separate by name and act is not equal,” said Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, one of the few Republicans to vote for marriage equality. Anderson spoke of his brother, who is gay, and argued that the state’s domestic partnership law does not convey the full societal benefits and recognition of legal civil marriage.

Lawmakers spoke intensely of their religious beliefs.

“Mr. Speaker, Washington State has truly separated God from government,” warned Rep. Jim McCune, R-Graham, adding: “God would hold us all accountable for our actions here today.”

But Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge, said he was urged by his pastor to vote for marriage equality, quoting C.S. Lewis on the difference between civil and religious marriage, and adding: “We have a lot of gay brothers and sisters in church, you know.” (Hansen’s mother is a minister.)

The fact that Republicans in particular spoke about religious belief underscores the fact that today's Republican Party has nothing but contempt for the U. S. Constitution and its guarantee of equal rights and religious freedom and liberty to ALL citizens. They may wrap themselves in the flag and profess respect for the Constitution and the rule of law, but their actions indicate that they are seeking to subvert the Constitution and, at least arguably, are guilty of breaching their oath of office and committing treason. This country is NOT a Christianist theocracy and religion needs to be purged from the civil laws.