If nothing else, the one thing that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community agrees on about the state's new domestic partnership bill is that it is significant, it is needed and it is not enough. There will be another bill offered to the Legislature next year.
"The domestic partners bill provides emergency family protection," said Josh Friedes, a spokesman for Equal Rights Washington. "It is a continuing step for full marriage equality.
The bill, which Governor Christine Gregoire has said she will sign, allows same-sex partners at least 18 years old, and heterosexual partners where one is at least 62-years old, to sign a civil register. Registered couples will then have rights, not now available, in the matters of health care and inheritance.
"This bill gives a dozen of more than 400 legal protections that marriage provides," Friedes said. It is important, but it is far short of marriage. Equal Rights Washington is a statewide political advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure and promote dignity, safety and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Washingtonians.
"I think it is a major step forward," said Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. He said the bill is not as significant as full marriage rights would be, but it will provide some protection to families that have been completely unprotected to this point. He called it an incremental approach and promised there would be a follow-up bill during the next legislative session.
"From our very first conversations [about the bill] we were very clear that this would be step one in a multiple-step process," Pedersen said.
Pedersen, who represents Capitol Hill in the Legislature as part of the 43rd District, worked with representatives Joe McDermott, Jim Moeller and Dave Upthegrove to pass the bill in the House of Representatives. The bill had more than 50 sponsors.
Senator Ed Murray, the bill's prime sponsor in the Senate, said that the bill provides important protections. Whether it addresses the most important protections is still unknown.
"I would say not necessarily," Murray said. "They were what we could pass at this time."
Next year's follow-up bill will reflect the result of collaboration with various rights organizations and the public, he said.
The bill was approved by the Senate 28 to 19, and by the House 63 to 35. Domestic partnerships in the register will have rights such as the ability to make medical-care decisions for a sick partner, to visit a partner in the hospital, to inherit property without a will and to sue for wrongful death.
The bill has been bitterly opposed by many conservative groups.
"Right now, the immediate threat is the right-wingers will do a referendum campaign challenging the bill," Pedersen said. "We need to be vigilant."
"If we can make it through [a referendum challenge] we need to start talking about what the next rights will be."
Pedersen said that the final version of the bill was changed in response to public testimony, and the shape of the next bill will depend on talking with the public and affected families "about what challenges they are facing."
Murray said that the state-recognized partnerships will not be automatically recognized by other states any more than state contracts would be recognized in other states.
"It's a state-by-state battle," Murray said. He added that getting domestic partnerships recognized by the federal government would be a completely separate fight.
"I was very heartened by the civility of the dialogue in the Legislature," Friedes said of the process. He added that he was delighted with the support the bill received from many faith-based communities. He speculated that support was because there is a growing awareness of the difference between civil marriage and religious marriage.
"I was also very pleased that we began this discussion about diverse families," Friedes said, specifically pointing out the needs of older persons for protection under the bill. Many older couples are prevented from marrying because of the terms of retirement benefits or other income.
"Ironically, for older couples, marriage can take away economic stability," Friedes said.
The bill does not offer protections to younger, heterosexual domestic partnerships because it would have brought more opposition, according to Pedersen.
"Personally, I argued from the beginning that the rights should be obtained by all couples," Pedersen said.
Friedes said it is important not to forget that the ultimate goal is to provide the same protections to everyone, gay and heterosexual.
"One thing still important about gay marriage is it represents full citizenship," Friedes said.
A summary of the bill is available on the Equal Rights Washington Web site, www. equalrightswashington.org/news/dpinfo
For a full version of the original House Bill 1351 point your browser to www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1351.pdf,
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann lives on the Hill and can be reached at editor@capitolhill times.com.
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