Washington To Consider Legalizing Equality

I am one of those people who believe the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees equal rights for ALL American citizens. And it is obvious to me that the right to marry the person you love should be one of those rights. I have never understood why the religious fundamentalists on the right think this is a right they should be able to deny to same sex couples. You can be sure they would scream loudly that their own constitutional rights had been violated if the state or federal government told them they couldn't marry the person they loved.

I know that they fall back on their religion as an excuse to deny gays and lesbians this basic human right -- just as they do to reduce women to a second-class citizenship and just as the did a century ago to justify slavery. But we do not live in a theocracy. Our forefathers gave us a secular government, and whatever any religion might think, the federal government and the individual state governments should not deny any citizen any right given to other Americans -- regardless of color, ethnicity, race, age, sex, religion, or sexual preference. To put it simply, equality should mean equality for everyone.

Currently there are seven places in the United States where same-sex marriages are legal and recognized -- New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia. In these jurisdictions all citizens are legally equal (even though work still needs to be done to help minorities, women, and homosexuals achieve social equality). Now there may soon be an eighth.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has announced that she will be introducing a bill that will legalize same-sex marriages in that state. The bill would not force any religious entity to perform same-sex marriages (and therefore would not interfere with any religious rights), but it would give those marriages the same legal rights as any other marriages. Gregoire said:

"Today, I'm announcing my support for a law that gives same-sex couples in our state the right to receive a marriage license in Washington - the same right given our heterosexual couples, It is time, it is the right thing to do, and I will introduce the bill to make it happen. I have been on my own journey. I will admit that. It has been a battle for me with my religion, I have always been uncomfortable with the position that I have taken publicly. And then I came to realize the religions can decide what they want to do, but it is not OK for the state to discriminate."

I don't know how good a chance the bill has of passing the Washington legislature. I know both houses are controlled by Democrats (27-22 in the Senate and 56-42 in the House), but I don't know how many of those Democrats are progressives who believe in equality and how many are "posers" (blue dogs) who vote Republican.

We'll just have to cross our fingers and hope the Washington legislators do the right thing -- and the right thing is to vote to make equality a reality for all of the state's citizens.