Washington: “Gregoire expands same-sex partnerships”

Seattle Times: “Surrounded by about 300 people — most of them gay and lesbians couples and their children — Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday signed legislation giving registered same-sex domestic partners all the rights and benefits that Washington now offers married couples. The law will take effect on July 26 unless opponents seeking to repeal it can successfully collect enough signatures to get a referendum on the November ballot.”

It is clear that domestic partnerships pose a danger to marriage.  In Andersen v. King County, the Washington Supreme Court refused to redefine marriage.  Lambda Legal filed a brief arguing that civil unions create a second class status.  During oral arguments, the ACLU, through its counsel Paul J. Lawrence, argued:

If you are left with a situation where the only distinction is marriage versus civil union. Marriage is only based then on one conclusion. That is a moral disapproval of same sex couples. That is the only potential basis that exists to distinguish when you have taken everything else away. And, we know on a constitutional and state law basis that moral disapproval alone is never sufficient under any standard to justify discrimination or classification

More recently, litigation in other states also demonstrates that domestic partnerships are used as a stepping stone to redefine marriage.

DomaWatch materials (includes links to oral arguments in Andersen): Washington

Related Alert posts:

Civil unions: The recipe to redefine marriage

Legal scholar acknowledges that civil unions lead to marriage redefinition

Washington: “State bar association supports same-sex marriages”