OLYMPIA — Two bills that seek to expand the rights granted to gay and lesbian couples were the subject of public hearings Tuesday.
The companion measures seek to grant same-sex couples more than 170 of the benefits and responsibilities given to married couples, including property and guardianship rights.
“It’s about having the same rights as other citizens,” said Lynwood resident Kevin Teeley, 53. He and his partner of 14 years, Greg Stair, 40, are among the 3,304 couples registered with the state as domestic partners.
The Legislature passed a bill last year to allow state-registered domestic partnerships, granting gay and lesbian couples certain rights available to spouses, such as hospital visitation rights.
The bills seeking to expand those rights were discussed at hearings before the Senate Government Operations &Elections Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.
Opponents said the bills would undermine traditional marriage.
“We appreciate every person’s contribution to society,” said Arne Walker, director of government affairs for the Family Policy Institute of Washington. “But the benefit of traditional marriage will help us sustain our culture.”
Walker said he believes the bills are an incremental step to legalizing gay marriage.
“Eventually we have to draw the line,” he said, “and we are drawing the line here, at traditional marriage.”
Supporters note that the bills cover only a fraction of the 485 rights and responsibilities married couples have.
The 199-page House bill changes dozens of sections of state law, including requiring domestic partners of public officials to submit financial disclosure forms, just as the spouses of heterosexual officials do.
The measure also would give domestic partners the same spousal testimony rights that married couples have, allowing domestic partners the right to refuse to testify against each other in court.
It would add domestic partners to sections of laws where previously only spouses were mentioned, including sections about probate and trusts, community property and homestead exemptions, and guardianship and powers of attorney.
The process of ending a domestic partnership also would be changed, allowing the secretary of state to end partnerships only in the first five years, with several more restrictions relating to children, real property or unpaid debts.
All other partnerships would be dissolved in superior court — similar to conventional divorce.
The underlying domestic partnership law already provides hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations, and inheritance rights when there is no will.
To be registered as partners, couples must share a home, must not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.
In a provision similar to California law, unmarried heterosexual senior couples also are eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner is at least 62.
Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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