WA Gov To Sign Marriage Equality Bill At 11:30AM PST
We’ve known for a while that Washington State would be the seventh in the nation to pass marriage equality, but that doesn’t mean putting the icing on the cake shouldn’t be cause for celebration.
The State House and Senate passed the bill last week, and now the office of Gov. Christine Gregoir has announced she’ll sign the bill into law at 11:30am PST/2:30pm EST today.
Expect the first gay weddings in June 7, as well as some backlash from NOM and other anti-marriage-equality organizations. Maggie Gallagher and her ilk will need to collect 120,000 signatures by June 6 and a whopping 241,153 John Hancocks by July 6 to get the issue on the ballot for November.
If Gallagher and her homophobic henchmen encounters similar roadblocks that she does in the amazing interview below, then she’ll have a real problem getting the people of Washington State to swat down marriage equality—or to even answer their doorbell. Meanwhile, Santorum has flown in to the state to talk with anti-marriage folks.
Photos via Mediacutts, Ryan Georgi
New Jersey just passed marriage equality 24-16! Yeah!
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And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done. We have to stop treating equality as a campaign — it’s not. State-by-state advocacy is critical and the only way to ensure equal rights. Now, if we could only get the HRC to understand geopolitics, they might be useful.
Anyway, congratulations Washington!
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@YouKnowIt!: said…
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done. We have to stop treating equality as a campaign — it’s not. State-by-state advocacy is critical and the only way to ensure equal rights. Now, if we could only get the HRC to understand geopolitics, they might be useful.”
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I wish I could look at it in a different way, but unfortunately I completely agree with you. If enough states pass it, then the court can’t back down from making a decision by saying that it is a “Fringe” opinion, or that it isn’t trending in that direction. I still think that the way to go is nationally, but unfortunately, women’s voting and interracial marriage had to pass in multiple states before the court would finally end the argument.
As for HRC, you’re expecting them to sign their own paycheck death warrant by doing that. I have a feeling that Joe Solomnase would have been incredibly happy to just stay as a very very high paid party planner for the next 2 decades, drawing a high salary and not advancing our rights. It’s a shame, the younger employees there I think have their hearts in the right place, but I don’t think history will judge him kindly.
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YAY Washington! Next- New Jersey!
Maggie’s head must be exploding.
@Cam: Joe is gone, isn’t he?
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Maggie Gallagher has her own orbit. Isn’t it more disrespectful to God to be obese and take up exponentially larger amounts of resources from the needy around us than to be gay? Also, “Because marriage is good hurrdurr” is not an argument.
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Congratulations to the people of Washington State, and thank you to the grass roots folks and the legislature and governor!!!
This interview was great!