WA: Editorial—Domestic partner law should pass without a hitch through Senate

Link: The Daily News Online

Excerpt:

The state House of Representatives approved legislation a week ago Friday to greatly expand Washington's domestic partnership law, which went into effect just seven months ago. The vote, 62-32, was taken after very little debate, according to Associated Press writer Rachel La Corte. The measure now is in the Senate, where a public hearing as been scheduled for Monday in the Committee on Government Operations and Elections.

It would surprise us if this once hot-button issue produces many fireworks during Monday's Senate hearing. There's still some resistance to extending the legal benefits married couples enjoy to same-sex couples, to be sure. But no one can dispute that same-sex relationships exist, and that many of those relationships involve children. There is a growing consensus that both the adults and children involved in these relationships deserve the law's protection and benefits.

[...]

A primary sponsor of this legislation, Rep. Jaime Pederson, D-Seattle, said it represents the "next step" to provide financial security for all families in the state. He's right, and taking that step clearly is the right thing to do.

Many in the private sector recognized a need to take this step long before elected officials could muster the political courage to follow. At least 100 of the Fortune 500 companies have been offering employment benefits to same-sex couples for almost a decade. These companies had a practical incentive not to discriminate in their policies. They wanted the best employees available, many of whom might be in unmarried heterosexual or homosexual partnerships.

For the state government, of course, there are both practical and moral reasons to grant all couples the same legal benefits enjoyed by married couples.

[km]