Love you and honor you the rest of my life…

We love it when we witness a marriage ceremony: people with their eyes full of hope and passion for a life together. We want the best for their future, for the family they have created.

Finally, those couples who love each other, and are the same gender, who create  a family, and want simply to have their relationship recognized as a family  may soon have their status as a married couple legally acknowledged in Washington state.

To deny people their civil rights is not what we do here in America; we abhor that behavior in other places around the world. And nothing is more human, more civil, than a commitment to love and honor another human being.

A House vote to follow next week and a certain signature from Governor Chris Gregoire.

(S-R archives photo: Sean Fritz, left, and Tim McQuillan exchange rings during their wedding as the Rev. Mark Stringer officiates in Des Moines. Associated Press)