Gay couples file suit in Seattle; mayor joins debate

By Seattle Times staff

	STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Heather Andersen and Leslie Christian, one six couples that filed a lawsuit against King County after being turned away when trying to get a marriage license, listen to County Executive Ron Sims at his press conference.
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The six couples, some with children in arms, were greeted at the door of the fourth-floor King County Administration Building office by County Executive Ron Sims, who said he supports their right to marry but is forbidden by state law from issuing licenses to partners of the same sex.

The couples took turns walking up to the license counter, where they announced their names and requested a marriage license. To each couple a clerk responded, "The state law prevents us from issuing you a license."

Lawyers for the Northwest Women's Law Center and Lambda Legal — a gay-rights legal office — promptly filed a suit seeking to overturn the state's six-year-old Defense of Marriage Act. The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, contends the law denies equal protection under the state constitution.

"They are religious leaders, they are teachers, they are managers, they are nonprofit workers, they are lawyers," Women's Law Center Executive Director Lisa Stone said of the couples seeking licenses.

"They and their families are coming down to King County today to say, 'I want the same thing as everyone else and there is no good reason not to give it to me.' "

	STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Samuel Mitchell, left, and Sam Whiting embrace after being refused a marriage license at the King County administration building. They were part of the march from Capitol Hill down to the Administration building.

Sims, appearing at a news conference with the plaintiffs and their lawyers, likened the state's ban on gay marriages to anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriages in some states until the late 1960s.

"We should never tell people who love each other, who have entered into a relationship soberly, people who will function for the rest of their lives as one ... who will raise children — we should never deny those individuals the right to be married. But we do," Sims said.

Sims said the county Prosecuting Attorney's Office will defend the county's denial of marriage licenses in a case that is almost certain to go to the state Supreme Court. But, Sims added, "My feelings will be made known to the court."

Among those seeking marriage licenses were Dave Shull and Peter Ilgenfritz, co-pastors of University Congregational United Church of Christ. The ministers, who have been together 18 years and who were married in church in 1994, want their marriage recognized by the state.

"There's that continuing sense of being less than," Shull said. "Our commitment, our relationship, is not seen as being as good, as being as sacred, as being as holy. There's that second-class citizenship that is always present."

The lawsuit was filed as Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was signing an order extending city benefits to same-sex couples with marriage licenses from other states.

At a news conference this morning, Nickels said, "Seattle has often been in the forefront of protecting all its citizens regardless of sexual orientation." He also proposed an ordinance that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of marital status, giving same-sex married couples protection from bias in employment, housing or the use of city facilities.

Both actions are essentially symbolic.

Gay and lesbian city employees have been eligible for full domestic partnership benefits — health-care, retirement and other employee benefits — since 1989. Under the new executive order, same-sex couples would only have to say they're married and not have fill out paperwork to prove the relationship.

And Seattle already prohibits employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and marital status. Nickels is simply proposing that martial status be clarified to include same-sex marriages.

But in an extension of the city's protections for same-sex married couples, the proposed ordinance, which now goes to the City Council, would require businesses that contract with the city to treat their gay married employees the same as heterosexual married employees.

Because counties issue marriage licenses in Washington, Nickels lacks legal authority to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

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