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Prior to Dec. 6, the Washington State Department of Health will seek to change the wording on marriage and divorce certificates. (Photo: AP)

State rushes to make marriage, divorce certificates fit same-sex couples

BY Brandi Kruse  on November 26, 2012 @ 12:49 pm (Updated: 1:13 pm - 11/26/12 )

Less than two weeks before same-sex couples can begin to wed, state officials are working to tie up loose ends in the law.

Prior to Dec. 6, the Washington State Department of Health will seek to change the wording on marriage and divorce certificates. Spaces once reserved for a "bride" and "groom" will become more gender-neutral, according to department spokesperson Tim Church.

"Obviously those words aren't going to fit everybody," he said. "We are proposing a change were it will say something like 'Spouse A' and 'Spouse B.'"

The state began the process of changing the wording on marriage and divorce certificates prior to the passage of Referendum 74, Church said.

"So we could have it moving ahead, because the time between the vote and the law taking effect was only 30 days," he said. "So we started the process knowing we could just stop it if the initiative did not pass."

The public will have a chance to weigh in on the proposed changes leading up to and during a public hearing on Wednesday. The hearing will begin at 8 a.m. at 310 Israel Rd. SE Rooms 152-153 in Tumwater, Wash.

Comments may also be submitted online or by mail to Washington State Department of Health, P.O. Box 47814, Olympia, Wash., 98504-7814.

Brandi Kruse, KIRO Radio Reporter
Brandi Kruse is a reporter for KIRO Radio who is as spontaneous and adventurous in her free time as she is on the job. Brandi arrived at KIRO Radio in March 2011 and has already collected three regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting.
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Comments (17)


  • Add A Comment

  • irony wrote...
    I'M GOING TO DIVORCE BECAUSE
    November 26, 2012 1:06 pm
    I DON'T WANT MY NAME SLANDERED BY THIS DEPRAVITY.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @irony
    November 26, 2012 6:12 pm
    Please feel free to be as foolish as you wish to. It won't hurt anyone's feelings.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    Just use the current forms etc.
    November 26, 2012 1:13 pm
    How much money and time will be spent on this? So do I get a separate form if I'm not the same sex? "Obviously those words aren't going to fit everybody," he said. So how many forms are we going to end up with? Is this what you do with your time in Olympia?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • adiru wrote...
    If past history is any indication
    November 26, 2012 1:54 pm
    new forms will continually have to be made to include other genders du-jour, like possibly LGBTQWERTY.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Pugwamp wrote...
    I knew it!!
    November 26, 2012 1:55 pm
    The following words will no longer be tolerated in the State of Washington

    husband

    wife

    bride

    groom

    Get our the red pens and start deleting those words from textbooks, forms etc.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    What is all the fuss?
    November 26, 2012 3:17 pm
    Same sex couples will never divorce since Homosexual unions are far superior than traditional marriages. Like not even in the same league!

    This is what you Parrots squawked and crowed about to get this passed!

    Reality SUCKS! Don't it?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    The end is near...
    November 26, 2012 3:31 pm
    ...236+ yrs and done. The left is getting their wish...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @HPD 5.0
    November 26, 2012 6:16 pm
    Gee HPD - the United States didn't fall when women got to vote. Or own property. Or when blacks got to get out of the back of the bus. Or when blacks could marry whites (or any other racial combination). Or when divorce was allowed. So I guess this one thing will cause the end of this country (just like people who couldn't deal with the other changes claimed would happen during each of those changes. You'd think that these folks would learn from history - but they only seem doomed to repeat the same old tired lies about how 'America as we know is will end because of ______' (and then it never happens.)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Dull unimaginative, brainwashed shameless Left wing Parrots.
    November 26, 2012 3:57 pm
    Lead to the downfall of a nation, the GREATEST this world has ever seen, and replace it with Obamunism!

    How long and how many (Too few!) of these Parrots here will begin to realize their mistake?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Troll Hunter wrote...
    It's me! Ha ha!
    November 26, 2012 7:15 pm
    America is the greatest nation the world has ever seen??? You must have failed world history.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Danutdlp wrote...
    TOO BAD
    November 26, 2012 8:13 pm
    Im glad my marriage certificate saids Bride and Groom. Too bad my children will grow up having spouse 1 and spouse 2 on their marriage certificate. And don't say "what if your children will be Gay when they grow up" They WONT I can assure you of that. Screw the Gay community. They are a bunch of losers and this world would have been a much better place without them. Our state law makers would of had more time on their hands to deal with other REAL economic problems... This state and country is going down, down, down and down....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • R L M 456 wrote...
    I KNEW Brandi K would not let Linda
    November 26, 2012 8:41 pm
    get ahead in the

    I got a Gay story race

    Come-on LINDA--Your Move

    another day

    another Homo story

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    Who is going to sue first
    November 26, 2012 8:59 pm
    Who will be the first to sue when they get the new document mixed as to who was "Spouse A' and 'Spouse B"?.... "I wasn't A, you were were supposed to be A, I'm B.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dexterjibs wrote...
    HOORAY!- not
    November 26, 2012 9:39 pm
    Sprinting towards Gomorrha and the end of this country is in sight. I never thought that would happen, but the last 10 years we have become a completely immoral country. The state may as well make marriage forms that have room for paw prints, because that is the next degenerate group of people demanding "equality" in marriage.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }