The Legislature moved closer to making Washington the seventh state to legally recognize same-sex marriages with a bipartisan Senate vote Wednesday night.
“A lot of people are just stunned, particularly people in my age group and older,” said Ed Murray, gay marriage’s champion in the Senate, who spoke before the vote in a news conference attended by his partner, Michael Shiosaki. “I don’t think we actually believed this day would come in our lifetimes. I certainly didn’t believe that when these battles started in the ’90s.”
The final vote was 28 to 21, a week after Murray announced he finally had enough votes. Easier approval is expected in the House - which is expected to vote next week - and by Gov. Chris Gregoire, who introduced it.
Mid-Columbia lawmakers presented a united front against the measure.
Sens. Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, and Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, and Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, all voted no on the bill.
“Although we were able to amend the bill to at least provide minimal protections for some religious organizations, private employers that wish not to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies are still left wide open to lawsuits,” Hewitt said in a press release.
He also said the gay marriage legislation has consumed the Legislature’s time and attention for four weeks. “We’re almost halfway through the 2012 session and the Senate has yet to hold any substantive hearings on specific reforms or a proposed budget. It’s time to get on track and focus on what citizens sent us here to do this year — enact much-needed reforms and balance our budget.”
Sen. Janéa Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, also voted against the bill.
“A majority of Washingtonians are against same-sex marriage and believe the family is the fundamental unit of our society,” she said in a press release. “With tonight’s vote and passage in the House all but certain, it may well be up to the voters to submit a referendum and check Olympia’s seemingly unfettered power.”
Senate Republicans introduced a number of amendments aimed at protecting the rights of nonprofit organizations, churches and businesses to not participate in gay-marriage ceremonies if it violates their strongly-held religious beliefs, Holmquist Newbry noted in her release.
“I am worried about the religious liberties and free conscience of those who support traditional marriage,” she stated. “Individuals in domestic partnerships represent two-tenths of one percent of the state’s population, yet the Senate tonight ignored the remaining 99 percent of us.
“What we witnessed tonight is not the bestowal of civil rights, but the exercise of political power.”
