A Seattle lesbian couple says a peck on the lips nearly got the two of them tossed out of a Mariners game... Sirbrina Guerrero says she only gave her date a peck, but a mother sitting with her son complained to security and, as a result, they were told to stop or leave.

"And he (the security guard) goes 'there's a lady whose son says he saw you guys making out, and I did, too. And you have to stop.' And I said 'well, we weren't making out, but we were kissing and I'm not going to stop,'" said Guerrero... "(The security guard said) the mom doesn't want to explain to the kids why two girls are kissing. So I said 'well, I'm not going to stop, so you'll have to kick me out. So he said 'so I suggest you leave then,'" she said.

But Guerrero and her friends don't buy it. After Guerrero was flagged at the game, they took pictures of other couples who kissed but were not reprimanded. Those couples, they said, were heterosexual.

via KOMO Head over here to see a video of the story.

Labels: discrimination, seattle, washington

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2pm, Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire will sign the Domestic Partnership expansion bill.

Way to go Washington! Another step toward full equality.

Related posts:

After already passing the Washington State House 62-32 back in February, the Senate today voted to 29-20 to pass a bill that would add roughly 160 rights, responsibilities and protection to same-sex couples and their families.

Washington's existing Domestic Partnership bill currently consists of about a dozen rights and responsibilities.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed the previous Domestic Partnership bill (2007) in addition to an Anti-Discrimination bill back in 2006. She has consistently supported pro-equality legislation and has already indicated her support for this legislation - meaning it should be signed very soon.

Congrats Washington!

Labels: domestic partnership, washington

Washington State's Domestic Partnership expansion bill passes House 62-32.

Moments ago the Washington House of Representatives passed the 2008 Domestic Partnership Bill. This is a tremendous step forward in our work to protect LGBT families while we continue the fight to secure full marriage equality in Washington State.

The bill now moves to the Senate where we are confident that with continued hard work we can pass the bill. The governor a longtime supporter of civil rights for all Washingtonians has already indicated her support for this legislation. Still, we will take nothing for granted.

At stake is more than the 160 rights and responsibilities that the over 3,400 couples who have registered since July 23rd will receive when the bill becomes law. This bill is creating important media and lobbying opportunities to help elected leaders and the public understand the problems facing LGBT individuals & families.

Couples lined up this morning to take advantage of Washington state's new Domestic Partnership law which affords roughly twelve benefits to same-sex couples. These rights, benefits and responsibilities include things like: hospital visitation, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations, and the ability to inherit in the absence of a will.

Equal Rights Washington makes no claim that Washington's Domestic Partnerships are just a band-aid and no replacement for the hundreds of rights, responsibilities and protections that come with marriage.

Some 85 couples were registered after the first hour Monday, with another 50 pairs standing in a line that wrapped around the front of the secretary of state's office in downtown Olympia.

One small positive step forward for society.

Of course you then have the whackos...
Joseph Fuiten, a Bothell pastor who leads the conservative group Positive Christian Agenda, called the partnership registry "social experimentation."

"The state of Washington is signaling to our children that domestic partnerships are nearly as good as marriage," Fuiten said in a statement. "No research was done by the Legislature to prove that no harm will come to society as a result of this action."

To Mr. Fuiten I say this. First, the State of Washington is not in any way indicating that Domestic Partnerships are 'nearly as good as marriage'. As I said above these Domestic Partnerships offer ABOUT A DOZEN vital rights and responsibilities--far from the hundreds afforded to Mr. Fuiten and his wife.

If "social experimentation" as Mr. Fuiten calls it are things like being able to visit your partner in the hospital or the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations then I question his morals as a human being and as a pastor. These socially conservative extremists prove once and again that they do not even realize the worth of their marriage and that is a sad fact.

How about this...
What is Mr. Fuiten's child was in desperate need of an organ transplant, days away from death? Would he then have the same issue with committed gay couples being able to make choices about their partner's organs after death? Think about that Mr. Fuiten.

Labels: domestic partnership, gay rights, legislature, washington

After a hard fought battle in the legislature, Washington's newly passed Domestic Partnership law will go into effect this Monday. The registry grants some legal standing (less than a dozen rights and responsibilities) for same-sex couples and straight couples where at least one of the persons is 62 years or older. Both critics and supporters of the new law say the issue is far from settled.

Josh Friedes of Equal Rights Washington has said that from day one-even on the day they announced Domestic Partnerships, the first sentence out of their mouth was something to the tune of, "Don't get us wrong, we won't stop until we have full equal marriage."

Couples who register will have some of the same rights and obligations that married couples have. Those rights include hospital visitation rights, participation in medical care decisions, and inheritance rights. But the couples will not be able to file their federal taxes jointly or receive partner benefits from Social Security or other federal rights.

Washington is different as the residents cannot vote for a constitutional amendment as they can here in Oregon and many other states. What does this mean? It means that they will never have a constitutional amendment banning marriage for same-sex couples. The legislature would have vote on that and that will never happen.

Washington should be applauded for this small but necessary win for basic fairness for all Washington families and for keeping up the fight for full marriage equality.

Labels: domestic partnership, washington

Yesterday, Governor Chris Gregoire signed into law, legislation to give gay and lesbian couples some of the rights that come with marriage.

The domestic partnership bill will create a domestic partnership registry with the state, and provide enhanced rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations and inheritance rights when there is no will.

To be registered, couples would have to share a home, not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.

Now, California and Washington both have domestic partnership laws on the book. The two vary in the amount of rights given to those couples in the Domestic Partnership. Washington's give about a dozen rights and protections, whereas California's law is more expansive.

Oregon will soon be next on the short list of states that offer domestic partnerships benefits at a statewide level. Oregon's House Bill 2007 passed the Oregon House 34-26 this past week and is heading to the Oregon Senate shortly. This week Oregon also passed Senate Bill 2, The Oregon Equality Act, which will ban discrimination based on sexual orientation (GLBT or straight) in areas such as housing, employment, public accommodation and public education. The Governor has pledged to sign both bills when they reach his desk.

Labels: anti-discrimination, california, domestic partnership, gay rights, HB 2007, legislature, oregon, SB 2, washington

The Washington State Senate has passed a measure that would create domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.

It passed on a 28-19 vote over the objections of opponents who say the measure is essentially the same as gay marriage. Although if you look at the extreme lack of protections and rights this bill grants--any person with a brain can figure out that this bill comes VERY short of marriage.

The bill now goes to the House. Governor Gregoire is expected to sign it if it reaches her desk and speculation from sources tells us that it should pass the Washington House.

The bill would create a domestic partnership registry with the state. It would enhance rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations, and inheritance rights when there is no will. To be registered, couples would have to share a home and not be married.

On a side note, this bill also cover straight couples where one partner is 62 or older.

Labels: domestic partnership, gay rights, legislature, washington

Wow. A very strange way of going about social change.

An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled.

Initiative 957 was filed last month by Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state supreme court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage.

Under the measure, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children in order to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriage would be subject to annulment.

All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in those marriages would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.

Supporters must gather more than 224,000 valid signatures by July 6 to put the initiative on the November ballot.

According to the group's Web site, organizers hope that the supreme court will strike down the initiatives as unconstitutional, weakening the basis for the same-sex marriage ban.

"And at the very least, it should be good fun to see the social conservatives who have long screamed that marriage exists for the sole purpose of procreation be forced to choke on their own rhetoric," it says.

Labels: ballot measure, constitutional amendment, washington

That's right folks. In a new study, Seattle comes in as the second "gayest" city in the U.S. with about 13 percent of the population "identifying as" gay, lesbian or bisexual. These numbers does not include all those who are in the closet. Portland, my home town, comes in as the eighth "gayest" city with 8.8% of the population that is out and open about their sexual orientation.

Of course San Francisco comes in as THE "gayest" city with 15.4%. Here is the list of the top 10 gayest cities in the U.S. according to the U.S. census data:

From The Seattle Times:
The study's findings are drawn from newly released U.S. census data on same-sex households showing that between 2000 and 2005, the reported number of gay-couple households increased by 30 percent in the United States and by 50 percent in Washington state.

Read how they came up with these numbers and read the entire article at The Seattle Times.

Labels: study, washington