Originally published April 15, 2009 at 3:31 PM | Page modified April 15, 2009 at 4:21 PM

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Washington Legislature expands gay partnerships

The Washington Legislature has passed an "everything but marriage" bill that grants same-sex couples all the rights and benefits the state offers married couples.

By RACHEL LA CORTE

Associated Press

Rollcall | How state representatives voted

Yeas: 62
Nays: 35
Absent: 0
Excused: 1

Voting Yea:
Representatives Appleton, Blake, Carlyle, Chase, Clibborn, Cody, Conway, Darneille, Dickerson, Driscoll, Dunshee, Eddy, Ericks, Finn, Goodman, Grant-Herriot, Green, Haigh, Hasegawa, Hudgins, Hunt, Hunter, Hurst, Jacks, Johnson, Kagi, Kelley, Kenney, Kessler, Kirby, Liias, Linville, Maxwell, McCoy, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Nelson, O'Brien, Ormsby, Orwall, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Probst, Quall, Roberts, Rolfes, Santos, Seaquist, Sells, Simpson, Springer, Sullivan, Takko, Upthegrove, Van De Wege, Wallace, Walsh, White, Williams, Wood, and Mr. Speaker

Voting Nay:
Representatives Alexander, Anderson, Angel, Armstrong, Bailey, Campbell, Chandler, Condotta, Cox, Crouse, Dammeier, DeBolt, Ericksen, Haler, Herrera, Hinkle, Hope, Klippert, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, Miloscia, Orcutt, Parker, Pearson, Priest, Roach, Rodne, Ross, Schmick, Shea, Short, Smith, Taylor, and Warnick

Excused:
Representative Flannigan

Source: Washington State Legislature

Rollcall | How state senators voted

Yeas: 30
Nays: 18
Absent: 0
Excused: 1

Voting Yea:
Senators Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Jarrett, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, King, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Pflug, Prentice, Pridemore, Ranker, Regala, Rockefeller, and Tom

Voting Nay:
Senators Becker, Benton, Carrell, Delvin, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, McCaslin, Morton, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli

Excused:
Senator Parlette

Source: Washington State Legislature

OLYMPIA, Wash. —

The Washington Legislature has passed an "everything but marriage" bill that grants same-sex couples all the rights and benefits the state offers married couples.

After nearly two hours of debate, the House passed the measure on a 62-35 vote Wednesday. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law.

The bill expands on previous domestic partnership laws by adding partnerships to all remaining areas of state law where currently only married couples are mentioned. The statutes range from labor and employment rights, to pensions and other public employee benefits.

As of Wednesday, more than 5,000 domestic partnership registrations had been filed since July 2007.

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Comments (326)

I will never for the life of me understand why anyone cares who anyone else they don't know wants to marry. Posted on April 15, 2009 at 4:08 PM by Spiffy D. Jump to comment

Rights are rights in America because the Constitution says so, not only because I think it. Posted on April 15, 2009 at 4:29 PM by Spiffy D. Jump to comment

Yo Bimms - in response to your idea that marriage is "a holy and sacred vow" - no it's not, unless you want it to be. I'm a... Posted on April 15, 2009 at 4:34 PM by Spiffy D. Jump to comment

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