In the lead-up to the historic February 1 vote on marriage equality, normally reticent Washington State senators took to the floor to tell all. Their controversial marriages! Their family secrets! Their siblings' sex lives! They may have buttoned-up public personas, but when voting on this personal issue was done, it was clear: Senators are just like us!

Secret Lesbian Sister

Riled up by an unfriendly amendment that would put the marriage bill on the November ballot, Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-3) came clean about her own family's gay side: "I really don't believe we should ask the voters whether my sister, who's had a same-sex partner for 20 years, should have the right to marry in the same way that I would have the right to marry," Brown said. Not finished, Brown then admitted that she herself isn't married, and that her lesbian sister jokes that she's waiting for Brown to get married first. "She may have to wait a long time," Brown said.

Sounds awfully familiar!

Gay Daddy Shocker

Until the pre-vote debate, Senator Kevin Ranker (D-40) had never told the senate about his gay father. But as the moment of truth approached, he couldn't keep it inside anymore: "As the son of a gay man, my personal story was one of a society that questioned my own family," Ranker began. "When my father came out, many in my community, and some in my own family, refused to accept it."

We've all been there!

Her Marriage is interracial

Senator Debbie Regala (D-27) couldn't hold back the tears as she came clean to her fellow senators about the fact that she married someone of a different race just one year after the US Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting interracial marriage in 1967. "I'm here to tell you I am really glad that the definition of legal marriage has changed, in that case, to include mine, the one I enjoy so much," Regala said.

We bet you are!

Her Kids call him Mummy?!?

Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36) took a break from her pot obsession to stand on the senate floor and admit not just to having children from a previous relationship but also to a gender-bending home life. Calling herself "a strong believer in traditional marriage," Kohl-Welles then declared: "I have been married to my husband, Alex, who many of you know, for over 26 years. And while we were not blessed to have our own children, Alex has served in those 26 years as the real and present and nurturing father to my five children—who affectionately over the years have always referred to him as mummy."

HIM as MUMMY?

Even we don't know what that means!