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Historic! Washington State Senate Votes to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage!

Posted by on Feb 1, 2012 in Inspirgaytion | 9 comments

Coming (very) soon: Your big, gay Washington wedding.

In what can only be described as a historic vote of 28-21, the Washington State Senate has voted to legalize gay marriage.

After passage by the House in a vote that could come as early as next week, Washington State will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont as the seventh state in America to make marriage equality available to same-sex couples. Washington D.C., Oregon and Washington State’s Coquille and Suquamish Indian tribes also allow same-sex marriages.

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has not only vowed to sign the bill into law, she was the one who called upon the Senate to craft it.

The usual amendments to – for the love of God! – protect Christians from having to acknowledge that gay married couples exist even though organized religion is absolutely obsessed with homosexuality, were tossed around the WA Senate floor prior to the vote, as expected. These religious exemptions continue to highlight how far Christianity has fallen from the teachings of Jesus “love thy neighbor” Christ. But hey, you already knew that.

Special thanks go out to Senator Debbie Regala for bringing me to tears describing how her own marriage was made possible, was made legal only a year before she wed a little over forty years ago because she and her husband were of different races. Regala, thankful that the definition of marriage expanded to include her own, made an impassioned plea to expand that same definition to include all of us. Thank you, Senator.

There will surely be national discourse about this vote in the coming days and weeks of course, but for tonight you can go ahead and rest your pretty little head. Washington State loves you just the way you are. Oh, and your partner too.

Stay tuned.

***UPDATE: To celebrate this momentous occasion, our dear pal Richard Wood at Kapchur.us Photography is offering a free wedding package to a same-sex couple marrying in Washington State after the bill is signed into law. You can enter the raffle HERE.