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Same-sex rights might expand

Lawmakers work on 1,900 page draft of partnership bill

By Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published January 04, 2009

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Randall said that granting rights to same-sex couples or allowing same-sex marriage harms the traditional institution of marriage, which he argues is vital to society and civilization.

He has been working with Republican state Sen. Dan Swecker of Rochester on opposing both the same-sex partnership and marriage efforts. Swecker has objections to same-sex marriage on religious grounds.

Murray and the Legislature's five other openly gay members are working with the gay community on a bill. He said the draft bill is extremely long because it needs to make multiple references to very specific language in the law.

Some pension-related pieces might fall out of the bill because they could have a fiscal effect in a year when budget cuts are the story of the day. Other issues are more generic and deal with such topics as fishing licenses.

"We haven't settled yet on a bill and a strategy," Murray said. "The pension part is about $1 million. There are some other tax issues, and those are in the tens of thousands. But it is a year when a lot of bills are going to die because of costs."

Friedes said Friday that he understands the state's budget predicament but also thinks gay and lesbian couples are not getting equal treatment in the law today from programs that help families — with health care and pensions, for instance.

He cautioned against dropping protections just because they might have a cost.

"As we go into this economic downturn, the bottom line is gay and lesbian families can no longer afford to subsidize other families and not get the same benefits," Friedes said.

Anna Schlecht, a lesbian and 30-year rights activist in Olympia, said she hopes activists can keep in mind there are other goals worth supporting in addition to civil rights. So activists should consider delaying requests for rights that carry a taxpayer cost.

"Not only are we concerned about gay rights, we are concerned about social services and about housing," Schlecht said. "I think this might not be the year to ask what Washington state can do for us, but what we can do for Washington state."

Brad Shannon is political editor for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.