The Washington State Legislature is significantly closer to extending to same-sex couples the legal right to marry, and this editorial board encourages everyone to support the cause.
The Washington Student Association added lobbying for marriage equality to its legislative agenda, which Associated Students vice president for Governmental Affairs Iris Maute-Gibson said “stretches the boundaries of what it means to be a higher education issue.” Maute-Gibson said changing the current ban on same-sex marriage will have an effect on the social climate of our university because, unfortunately, violence and discrimination are still evident on all college campuses.
The Legislature has been extending more and more rights to the queer community since 2006’s nondiscrimination laws. Most recent is 2009’s “everything but marriage” law, which extended all the rights and responsibilities of marriage to domestic partners without actually allowing same-sex couples to marry. But people should not be allowed to vote on whether other people get to have rights (the nation’s founders called that “the tyranny of the majority” and they tried hard to avoid it).
But fair or not, the “everything but marriage” bill went to the voters through a referendum in fall 2009, and they voted to keep it.
One problem: “Everything but” is simply not enough. This arrangement is “separate but equal” and thus not equal at all. Western Leadership Development Specialist Joanne DeMark has it right: the wording can place stigmas, and as long as we’re continuing to stigmatize a significant group of upstanding citizens, people think they can discriminate against the group, continuing the cycles of the prejudices.
Some who oppose same-sex marriage argue that marriage is for procreation and raising children. But straight couples who cannot (or don’t want to) reproduce are still allowed to legally marry.
It’s simple, really. Happiness – from marriage, parenthood or both – should not be a privilege exclusive to heterosexuals.
Things are looking promising. The University of Washington Center for Survey Research’s 2011 survey said 55 percent of Washington voters would favor a same-sex marriage law passed by the Legislature.
Granted, other issues affecting the queer community are also important to address. We should not ignore them. But if the Legislature is planning to take up this issue, we should take the opportunity to tell them legalizing same-sex marriage is long overdue. We owe it to our gay, lesbian and bisexual friends and community members to extend to them the rights, responsibilities and joys of marriage.
The Editorial Board is Editor-in-Chief Gina Cole, Managing Editor Paige Collins and Opinion Editor Olena Rypich.
Related articles:
