What do you Hear? ...Nothing but the rain

While this is awesome and im SO excited my State voted this in — celebration at this juncture is a little early yet Im afraid. For those still confused about how the new marriage law will play out, the Secretary of State has put together a primer on it. Essentially, it takes 90 days from the end of the regular session for the law to kick in, enough time for the opposition to collect signatures for a referendum. So same-sex couples WILL NOT be able to get married until June UNLESS enough signatures are gathered for a referendum to repeal the law (we expect them to gather enough signatures). Then it’s on to November, when a vote of the people will either affirm or reject the new law. I hope it passes — but from what I gather the issues is split nearly 50-50 here in WA

pantslessprogressive:

Washington state has legalized same-sex marriage. Washington’s legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage Wednesday by a 55-43 vote, making Washington the 7th state to do so.

Gov. Chris Gregoire says she will sign the legislation into law next week.

Washington joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont (and Washington D.C.) in granting marriage licences to same-sex couples.

State Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle), who is gay, spoke on behalf of the approved bill:

“I would like for our four children to grow up understanding that their daddy and their poppa have made that kind of a lifelong commitment to each other. Marriage is the word that we use in our society to convey that idea.”