Stormfans.org Forum - Marriage Equality in WA

Storm04.10 Veteran Offline Swin it to WIN IT! Posts: 2851	Marriage Equality in WA Jan 4^th, 2012 at 5:17pm HUGE news here in Washington state. Gregoire proposes legislation to legalize gay marriage If you live in Washington please contact your legislators to support this bill, ESPECIALLY your senators. We are still a few votes short in the Senate. There is a link here: Washington United for Marriage
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norwester YaBB Moderator Offline It's apt. APT! Posts: 3071 Seattle	Re: Marriage Equality in WA Reply #1 - Jan 5^th, 2012 at 11:18am My local reps are for it. But then, I live in Capitol Hill. I was excited when I heard about this. I always try not to get my hopes up, but who can help it?
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Awase

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #2 - Jan 5^th, 2012 at 6:54pm

This is nice, but without the repeal of DOMA it doesn't really mean much. Although I know that the more states that pass marriage equality bills or offer domestic partnerships/civil unions, the more pressure there will be on national legislators to repeal it.

I got married in CT in 2009 and still can't put my wife on my federal gov't health benefits, or file a joint income tax return (although the IRS requires that we income split because we live in a community property state).

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Storm04.10 Veteran Offline Swin it to WIN IT! Posts: 2851	Re: Marriage Equality in WA Reply #3 - Jan 6^th, 2012 at 8:34pm Well I'm excited about it.
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Storm04.10 Veteran Offline Swin it to WIN IT! Posts: 2851	Re: Marriage Equality in WA Reply #4 - Jan 23^rd, 2012 at 7:47pm http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017313695_gaymarriage24m.htmll
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seattlegaucho Starter Offline Posts: 834	Re: Marriage Equality in WA Reply #5 - Jan 23^rd, 2012 at 7:52pm
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BrrringIt

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #6 - Jan 24^th, 2012 at 2:44pm

Awase wrote on Jan 5^th, 2012 at 6:54pm:

This is nice, but without the repeal of DOMA it doesn't really mean much. Although I know that the more states that pass marriage equality bills or offer domestic partnerships/civil unions, the more pressure there will be on national legislators to repeal it.

I got married in CT in 2009 and still can't put my wife on my federal gov't health benefits, or file a joint income tax return (although the IRS requires that we income split because we live in a community property state).

This is the civil rights issue of early 21st century America. If history is any guide, states will legalize gay marriage one at a time, creating a domino effect. The holdouts will be brought in line when the Supreme Court overturns DOMA at some future date. You read it here first, folks.

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Awase Veteran Offline Posts: 2085 WA	Re: Marriage Equality in WA Reply #7 - Feb 1^st, 2012 at 8:07pm Passes in the Senate 28-21, now on to the House.
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Orsai

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #8 - Feb 3^rd, 2012 at 8:47am

I don't live in the US, so I would appreciate it if someone could clarify a few things.

From what I've read, this DOMA law means that even if some states approve marriage equality, then same sex marriages wouldn't be recognized by other states, is that so?

And if they wanted to, could the federal government legalize gay marriage so that every state would have to recognize it as well? Cause I think I remember Obama saying that marriage equality was an issue that each state had to deal with independently. Is that the way the legislative system works over there, or is it a way of saying 'I don't want to get involved'?

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czechchick7

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #9 - Feb 3^rd, 2012 at 9:10am

Orsai wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2012 at 8:47am:

And if they wanted to, could the federal government legalize gay marriage so that every state would have to recognize it as well? Cause I think I remember Obama saying that marriage equality was an issue that each state had to deal with independently. Is that the way the legislative system works over there, or is it a way of saying 'I don't want to get involved'?

It's all part of the "states rights" idea that helped lead to the Civil War. Some believe in a strong federal govt. that tells the states what to do, others want some autonomy for the states to deal with issues unique to their own state.

I guess you could be cynical and say what Obama's said is an easy way to sidestep any political landmines. Undecided

But there's always a fine line between how much the federal govt. should get involved vs. the state dealing with their own situations.

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Storm04.10

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #10 - Feb 4^th, 2012 at 9:01am

DOMA means the federal government does not recognize same sex marriages. No tax benefits, no health care benefits of same sex partners of federal employees, nada. Many states also have their own DOMA so even if they have civil unions/domestic partnerships, they won't have same sex marriage.

If DOMA goes away on a federal level, I think that means states are free to recognize, or not recognize, ssm.

Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

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BrrringIt

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #11 - Feb 6^th, 2012 at 12:12pm

You are correct, Storm04.10.

In keeping with my civil rights comparison, the various states had their own laws governing race as late as the early 1960s. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, those laws were all swept off the books by the U.S. Congress.

In the case of "states rights" re: marriage, it was not until 1967 when the Supreme Court declared any ban on interracial marriage to be unconstitutional (Loving v. Virginia), using the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause as the basis of its decision.

What makes that decision interesting in light of the present-day struggle is there is no comparable Equal Rights Amendment* governing gender the way the 14th Amendment dealt with race. But the Supreme Court could use its own decision in Loving v. Virginia as a precedent in deciding for gay marriage since in it they declared marriage to be one of the "basic civil rights of man".

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming decades.

*We tried and failed in the '70s Angry

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« Last Edit: Feb 6^th, 2012 at 12:16pm by BrrringIt »

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Orsai

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #12 - Feb 6^th, 2012 at 7:23pm

Thanks for clearing things up for me! So since it's up for debate which issues are for the federal government to deal with, and which are state's business, I can see how some sensitive topics could fall into limbo, cause most politicians don't want to endorse these kinds of laws.

I have to say, it surprises me that marriage equality in the US is still such a controversial topic and that it hasn't been approved yet. There's always going to be opposition from conservative and religious groups, but many countries have already fought against that and have redefined the concept of marriage. I'm sure it won't be long before most countries get on board with this, and stop restricting marriage because of gender, just as it is no longer restricted by race nor religion.

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missamo80 Starter Offline I love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 104	Re: Marriage Equality in WA Reply #13 - Feb 6^th, 2012 at 9:18pm This passed the House Judiciary committee today: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2017439246_gay_marriage_.... Neil
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norwester

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Re: Marriage Equality in WA
Reply #14 - Feb 7^th, 2012 at 10:39am

I'm interested in how the 9th Circuit's ruling on Prop 8 may affect the eventual referendum by anti-gay-marriage folks once our legislature makes gay marriage legal in Washington State. Is the ruling saying that you can't rescind by popular vote the rights of others without a reason? I'm unclear on the law and all the implications, but I'm hopeful.

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