Bill expands partners’ rights

OLYMPIA – A year after Washington established a controversial domestic partnership registry for same-sex couples and some heterosexual senior citizens, dozens of lawmakers are backing a dramatic expansion in the partners’ rights and responsibilities.

High on the list: legal procedures that closely parallel divorce.

“I adore Chris, and we plan on being together for the rest of our lives. But the reality is that many couples, gay and straight, do not stay together,” Bellevue police Officer Judy Fleissner told lawmakers Tuesday. Beside her was her partner of 18 years, attorney Chris Gamache.

The House bill’s prime sponsor is state Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, one of Washington’s half-dozen openly gay state lawmakers. With shared property and child custody often at stake in the partnerships, Pedersen told lawmakers, “We think it’s important that people not terminate them lightly.”

To illustrate that point, Pedersen brought his 5-month-old son, Trygve, who was squirming in the arms of Pedersen’s partner, Eric.

Among the rights and responsibilities included in the 199-page bill:

•Dissolution of partnerships would be done through superior courts, just like a divorce.

•Domestic partners would be subject to community property laws.

•Partners who are residents in the same nursing home or similar facility could share the same room.

•Indigent veterans’ partners could get services, such as spots at a state veterans home.

•Partners would get spouse-style immunity from testifying against each other in court.

•Domestic violence laws would consider a domestic partner a family member.

•Property tax deferrals, after death, would extend to a surviving partner.

•Political disclosure laws would apply to domestic partners in office. (Most elected officials must publicly disclose their financial interests, as well as their spouse’s.)

The bill would also recognize other states’ domestic partnerships and civil unions.

Partners began registering last year, after lawmakers agreed to give them inheritance rights if there is no will, as well as rights to make health care, funeral, autopsy and other decisions for each other.

Without such protections, gay and lesbian couples say they and their children are left in legal limbo. Even extensive legal agreements, they say, cannot fully mirror the rights that any married couple gets automatically.

So far, domestic partner breakups have been few. More than 3,300 couples have signed up. Three have ended the partnerships.

Pedersen’s proposal is broadly supported in Olympia. More than half the members of the House have signed on as sponsors of Pedersen’s bill, and there’s a similar Senate bill.

But the expansion has drawn fire from social conservatives uncomfortable with proponents’ acknowledged eventual goal: same-sex marriage. Pedersen – a lawyer – says the bills have no effect on the state’s marriage statute.

Among the critics is state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, who drew gasps from some in the crowd Tuesday when he asked if the state is checking up to make sure people aren’t registering their pets as partners. Couples must file notarized state forms.

“I’m just kind of worried about whether or not there could be some individuals out there scamming the system and that they’re actually claiming a dog as a domestic partner or just a, you know, a figment of their imagination, just whatever,” Ahern told Pedersen. “So do we have a Gestapo situation …”

At that point he was cut off by state Rep. Dennis Flannigan, D-Tacoma.

“I’m sorry, Representative, but I think the example is absolutely inappropriate,” Flannigan said. “I think that proclaiming whether – well, it’s way beyond what I can imagine.”

Moments later, Ahern questioned Pedersen about the baby.

“I’m just kind of curious: the little baby – cute little guy – what last name will he take, yours or your partner’s,” he asked.

“Eric’s last name is my last name,” Pedersen responded, referring to his partner. “He changed it. So we all share the same last name.”

Several people, including a lobbyist for the state’s Catholic bishops, criticized the bill, saying that it undercuts traditional marriage.

“This is a movement to normalize abnormal behavior” that is “corrupting the culture,” said Bob Higley, a retired church lobbyist. “… I plead with you to reject this bill. Someday each of us will stand before our maker and we’ll have to answer for our actions.”

Male-female marriage is “the bedrock foundation of every stable society,” said Arne Walker, of the Family Policy Institute of Washington. Traditional marriage laws were designed to protect procreation and protect the resulting children, he said. Most Washingtonians, he said, “resent being dragged along involuntarily by a social movement that contradicts the wisdom of the ages.”