Same-Sex Marriage News of the Day: Washington’s House of Representatives voted today 55-43 in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.
This makes the bill effectively a law: The state Senate passed it last week, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has already stated publicly that she intends to sign it right away.
However, same-sex couples would have to wait at least until June before they can get married — and that’s only if opponents of gay rights are unsuccessful in obtaining the required number of signatures necessary for a referendum.
If they succeed, same-sex couples in Washington will have to wait until the state’s voters decide their fate at the ballot in November. The latest poll numbers show an near-even split between those would approve same-sex marriages and those who would ban them.
Today’s vote in Washington comes 24 hours after California’s 9th Circuit Court upheld a previous ruling declaring the state’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional.