Quick Washington Civics Lesson…
Gay marriage is not yet legal in Washington.
What passed tonight was just the Senate bill (SB 6239 Roll Call). But that’s not the end…
The state House still has to pass it. That’s HB 2516. That should happen soon, and it’s virtually guaranteed to pass.
After the House passes it, it’s onto the Governor’s desk, and she’s said she’ll sign. (She was the driving force behind this, after all.)
After that, it’s the law.
But…
Marriages won’t start until June.
However, that is only if opponents don’t get enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to repeal the law by then. But unfortunately, they will get enough. They only need 120,577 signatures, which they will get. That means we have a Referendum 71 replay on our hands and the law will go before the voters in November. If the referendum is approved in November, then the law is upheld and marriages can start immediately. If the referendum is rejected, then it’s like none of this happened and instead of being one of the 7 states looking to the future, we’re going to be one of the 44 states still stuck in the bigoted past and we have to start all over again.
So, tl;dr: Not legal yet, don’t plan a June wedding, and prepare for a Prop-8 style fight later this year.
See http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/ for more information and to donate for the fight ahead.
This is awesomeness!! :D
(Just keeping my fingers crossed that the populous of my state will vote to approve this bill into law.)
