Wash. supporters of gay rights confident of win

A narrowly leading "everything but marriage" ballot measure gave hope Wednesday to gay rights activists that Washington might soon be the first state in which a measure dealing with equality for same-sex couples won voter affirmation.

"It would be historic," said Dan Hawes, a field director with the Washington, D.C.-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Maine voters on Tuesday repealed the state's gay marriage law, passed by the Legislature earlier this year. But Washington voters appeared to be favoring a law that grants gay and lesbian couples all the state-granted benefits given to heterosexual couples.

R-71 asked voters to approve or reject that law, a final expansion to the state's underlying domestic partnership law.

Sen. Ed Murray, a Seattle Democrat who spearheaded the law, declared victory Wednesday night, saying that it was a "great day of celebration for the tens of thousands of gay and lesbian families in Washington, and for anyone who supports equality in our state and around the country."

With about 56 percent of the expected vote counted, R-71 was leading 52 percent to 48 percent.

Officials with Washington Families Standing Together, the campaign supporting the current law, weren't ready to call the race Wednesday night, but spokesman Josh Friedes said "we are very optimistic and pleased with the way the results are trending.

Leaders of Protect Marriage Washington, which opposes the law and pushed to get the referendum on the ballot, did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday night seeking comment.

More than 400,000 ballots were left to be counted. Several counties, including King County - the state's largest - were set to report additional results late Thursday afternoon and early evening.

Two national gay rights groups - the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Family Equality Council - say that if R-71 passes, it would be the first time such a law received statewide voter approval, as opposed to being implemented by the courts or legislative process.

Western Washington University political scientist Todd Donovan said it's significant because whenever gay rights issues have made the statewide ballot - like the gay marriage votes in California, and most recently, Maine - voters have turned them down.

Washington state, along with California, Oregon, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, have laws that either recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships that afford same-sex couples similar rights to marriage. Only in Washington state have voters affirmed the additional rights, Donovan said.

"This is proactively endorsing the expansion of rights granted by the Legislature," said Donovan, an expert on ballot measures.

Murray said the closeness of the race showed that "we still have a lot of work to do in having a conversation with the citizens of the state about the reality of gay and lesbian families."

The measure was failing in most of the state's 39 counties, except for 10 counties in the traditionally more liberal Puget Sound area, including King County, which includes Seattle.

Opponents of the law pointed to that division as proof that King County, which holds about a third of the state's voters, disproportionately affects election results in the state.

"There's two sets of values in Washington. There's values in Seattle, and there's the rest of us," said Larry Stickney of Protect Marriage Washington. "The vast majority of Washington counties are uncomfortable with the radical social agenda coming out of Seattle."

The expanded law would add benefits, such as the right to use sick leave to care for a domestic partner, and rights related to adoption, child custody and child support.

The law was supposed to take effect July 26, but now will go on the books only if approved by voters. If rejected, previously enacted legislation on domestic partnerships with fewer benefits to gay couples would remain in place.

The underlying domestic partnership law, which the Legislature passed in 2007, provided hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations, and inheritance rights when there is no will. Under state law, senior couples can register as domestic partnerships as well.

Last year, lawmakers expanded that law to give domestic partners standing under laws covering probate and trusts, community property and guardianship.

More than 12,000 people in Washington state are registered as domestic partners.

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On the Net:

Washington Families Standing Together: http://approvereferendum71.org

Protect Marriage Washington: http://www.protectmarriagewa.com

Information on domestic partnerships: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/domesticpartnerships