Fantastic news. Paul Lawrence has been a fantastic resource working free on our behalf for so many years. Just fantastic.

"preserve domestic partnership only for seniors,"

I'm sure someone here can explain exactly what this means. Anyone?

Big first step. Yay Marriage Equality.

@2, Domestic partnerships have been used not only by same-sex couples, but by older het couples who would lose retirement benefits from dead spouses. This exemption would allow couples (same sex or opposite sex) who are 62 and older to remain in a domestic partnership without it automatically being converted to a marriage.

This is a GREAT reason to vote for Jay Inslee for Governor. I'm not comfortable with public officials who want a say in my personal life.

Also, fuck you, McKenna. This is exactly the kind of biased, partisan bullshit that the old centrist McKenna of a decade ago promised to avoid. You want to insert yourself into a culture war and prevent me from getting married? I promise to do everything within my power to prevent you from becoming governor. Your hard turn to right-wing nutter land will not go unchallenged in the fall.

Can't wait to APPROVE R-74. We get marriage equality AND preserve the nation's most progressive partnership right for seniors.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU and congratulations to: League of Women Voters of Washington and the PFLAG of Washington Council, which filed the case. The appeal was argued by Paul Lawrence, the Pacifica Group, Legal Voice, and the ACLU of Washington.

You've just brought us one step closer to eliminating institutional bigotry. Awesome work, I'm very proud! I will make a sizable donation to each organization as a thank you for helping out all of our gay & lesbian friends and family (yes, WE ALL have gay & lesbian friends and family, you just don't know who they are because they fear prejudice)...

baconcat - hopefully they won't get enough valid signatures - and we won't need to vote on the issue!

@4/5 - Thank you. I was totally ignorant of this aspect of the battle.

Does anyone know if Equal Rights WA or WA United for Marriage is going to attempt a "decline to sign" campaign against these bastards?

@12: No, they aren't. They said so at this weekend's town hall. It looks like a decline to sign would hurt the margin and that's not something you want to do if you're anticipating a close battle.

What they're urging people like you to do is to pledge to Approve R-74 on their website, http://washingtonunited.org, and have your family do the same. The more we get this pledge out the better our chances of showing enough strength to the other side that some of their softer supporters might rethink signing a petition if they think it might pass.

Great to see that not all judges in Washington are as right-wing as Rob McKenna.

I actually voted for Rob McKenna both times for Attorney General because I thought he was more qualified than his Democratic opponents and that he wouldn't play the role of ideologue. Now I'm not sure I'd vote for him again.

By The Stranger standards, I'm an arch-conservative, and I kind of think that in the grand scheme of things, gay marriage is not that big of a deal compared to some other issues in this country

BUT

Jesus, even I can see through that bullisht language. C'mon, if you want me to vote that marriage is male-n-female only, you need to make a compelling fact based case, not just appeal to my resistance to change.

What Reverse Polarity (#7) said! X(

My big problem with this is that they are taking away the rights of clergy to decide who they would like to preform a ceremony for! Really??? I thought we fight for our right to choose around here! If you want the right to choose to marry who you want the clergy should get the right to choose whether or not they would like to preform the ceremony, it goes both ways!!!

I know, I said preform instead of perform. Oops

Dimples, no one will EVER be forced to perform the ceremony. This is the concise description from Judge McPhee.

"This bill would allow same-sex couples to marry, preserve domestic partnership only for seniors, and preserve the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform, recognize, or accommodate any marriage ceremony."

You don't lose any rights. We just make the law fair for everyone. With liberty and JUSTICE FOR ALL.

Dimples----you need to go back and read what it says....in case you don't find it----"It preserves the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform or recognize any marriage or accommodate wedding ceremonies." NOBODY"S right to marry or not has been trampled on!

Time to go back to school for reading lessons!

Dimples----you need to go back and read what it says....in case you don't find it----"It preserves the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform or recognize any marriage or accommodate wedding ceremonies." NOBODY"S right to marry or not has been trampled on!

Time to go back to school for reading lessons!

Those of us close to this know how hard the legal team worked- long hours, sometimes through the night and on week ends- to bring all this together. Anne Levinson was amazing as an organizer and Paul Lawrence was amazing as he responded to each point with precision and focus. Many will never know how much our families owe these people. Now it is our task to make Washington United for Marriage take a place in history as a successful organization moving us forward for justice. It will take everyone this time. A shout out to the League of Woman Voters who have stood up for democracy through the years. PFLAG love you... but you all know that:)

We're all going to hell for acting like "gay" and "marriage" are two words that belong together.