dow-marriage-license2.jpg
King County Executive Dow Constantine, right , leads a cheer as the clock strikes midnight and he can begin to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples lined-up, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, in Seattle. First in line are Jane Abbott Lighty, and Pete-e Petersen. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

First marriage licenses issued to gay couples in Washington state

BY Chris Sullivan  on December 5, 2012 @ 1:13 pm (Updated: 2:09 pm - 12/6/12 )

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The wait is over for gay couples in Washington state eager to get their marriage licenses after voters passed R-74 last month. Dozens of same-sex couples obtained their marriage licenses in Washington state early Thursday, just hours after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a law legalizing gay marriage in the state.

King County, the state's biggest county, opened the doors to its auditor's office in Seattle just after midnight PST to start distributing marriage licenses. But hundreds of people had lined up hours earlier, snaking around the downtown Seattle building on a chilly December night.

Executive Dow Constantine held a brief ceremony at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday to honor the first couple in King County to receive its same-sex marriage license, Jane Abbott Lighty, and Pete-e Petersen.

"What we are doing here today is bringing us one step closer to living up to the founding ideals of this country, that all people are created equal and that they have the right to the pursuit of happiness," said Constantine.

Since midnight, the office has issued 418 licenses.

"It's huge to be a part of history and I couldn't pass up a moment to be a part of that," said Jen McKenna on why she stood outside the King County Auditor's Office Wednesday evening. She is marrying her partner of five years.

In Seattle, the mood was festive. Volunteers distributed roses, coffee and fruit. Couples canoodled to keep warm. Champagne was poured. Different groups of men and women serenaded the waiting line, one to the tune of "Going to the Chapel."

People in line said they just couldn't wait one more day to get their marriage licenses.

"We're now going to be married. She can change her name. Our kids will have the same last name. It's going to be a real family," said Emily Maltby who waited in line with her partner Marlene Hillyer.

"To be able to say this is my wife and not have people question it," said Hillyer, "is just amazing."

The King County auditor's office will be open all day Thursday until 6:30 p.m. It will be open Friday, December 7, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 8, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Thurston County Auditor's Office in Olympia also opened at 12:01 a.m. to issue marriage licenses.

Governor Gregoire signed R-74 into law earlier Wednesday legalizing same-sex marriages.

"This is a very important and historic day in the great state of Washington," Gregoire said before signing the measure that officially certified the election results. "For many years now we've said one more step, one more step. And this is our last step for marriage equality in the state of Washington."

Referendum 74 in Washington state had asked voters to either approve or reject the state law legalizing same-sex marriage that legislators passed earlier this year. That law was signed by Gregoire in February but was put on hold pending the outcome of the election. Nearly 54 percent of voters approved the measure.

The state has a three-day waiting period after a license is issued, so couples will have to wait until Sunday before weddings can take place.

Several ceremonies are expected on Sunday across the state. Seattle City Hall will open for several hours with judges donating their time to marry couples. Mayor Mike McGinn's office says more than 140 couples have registered to be married beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Couples who've been wed in other states do not have to get remarried. Their marriages will now be recognized in Washington.

Washington, Maine, and Maryland became the first states to pass same-sex marriage by popular vote in last month's election.

Legislators passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage and Gregoire signed it into law in February, but it was put on hold pending the outcome of the election.

Churches and other religious organizations are not required to perform gay weddings and they cannot be penalized for refusing a wedding.

A domestic partnership law has been in effect in Washington state since 2007. It granted couples hospital visitation, inheritance rights, and about 20 other rights. The law expanded two more times to include the "everything but marriage" law that voters upheld in 2009.

There are nearly 10,000 domestic partnership registrations with the secretary of state's office. Most same-sex domestic partnerships that aren't ended prior to June 30, 2014, automatically become marriages, unless one of the partners is 62 or older.

That provision was included in the state's first domestic partnership law of 2007 to help heterosexual seniors who don't remarry out of fear they could lose certain pension or Social Security benefits.

Among those getting marriage licenses Thursday was gay rights activist Dan Savage, who will marry his partner on Sunday with other couples at Seattle City Hall.

"It's been a long fight but it ain't over," he said. "We still have to fight (the Defense of Marriage Act) and there's 41 other states were same-sex couples aren't allowed to marry."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (70)


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  • jaydawg96 wrote...
    This is garbage
    December 6, 2012 10:00 am
    now we can teach kids about sex even more in school if i have kids they will be home schooled. I disagree with this law all this is is another way for stupid gay people to push there values on others. another reason I dislike liberals.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    Why do all the couples in the picture
    December 6, 2012 10:07 am
    look like each other? It's creepy. Is incest legal now too? Geez, go kiss a mirror.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • don over taxed wrote...
    Requirement
    December 6, 2012 10:13 am
    On all these applications for a wedding license....I believe they should be required to specify which one is the husband.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Please just don't have kids, gay folks.
    December 6, 2012 10:16 am
    Kids deserve a mom and a dad. Or are you planning on redefining those words too?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @sean
    December 6, 2012 10:23 am
    well Sean, gay couples have been adopting children for decades. Guess what? They're just as likely to be well adjusted, normal people as those that come from straight married couples. And they tend to be less hatefu and less bigoted than those from straight families. And I guess you're also against single parents having kids too... Because how dare those single parents not have the opposite sexed spouse available for thier child.... The hypocracy of your position is outright silly and untentable.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Your exceptions to a normal scenario, FrmrSgt,
    December 6, 2012 11:21 am
    are irrelevant. All other things being equal, there's no way in he11 that gay parents, on average, are as good as hetero parents, for children. That's absurd.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @sean...
    December 6, 2012 12:17 pm
    "All other things being equal, there's no way in he11 that gay parents, on average, are as good as hetero parents, for children. That's absurd." ---------- The only way you can possibly come up with that kind of statement is to ignore all of the facts and scientific studies that have been performed. So what you're doing is voicing your uninformed opinion as if it were fact. Sorry dude. That doesn't fly anywhere around here.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Then I feel sorry for you, Sarge
    December 6, 2012 12:31 pm
    Maybe your mommy was very male-like and your daddy wasn't. I dunno. But men and women are very different and it's part of what makes a balanced upbringing for kids.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @Sean, Sean, Sean....
    December 6, 2012 4:01 pm
    Your bias is very, very clear in your comments. You appear to hate 'gay' with a passion and therefore are projecting that hate into anything and everything involving gays. This diatribe about children of gay parents is just one aspect of that projection. You refuse to accept facts that prove your unproven opinion that 'children of gays always equals kids with problems'. I am sorry that facts get in the way of your bias, but for the rest of us, it works the other way around - facts get in the way of and eliminate biases.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • zounds wrote...
    You know Sean, a woman that used to work for me
    December 6, 2012 10:28 am
    was a lesbian who had been in a relationship for maybe 20 years.

    She adopted "troubled" children who had been abandoned by their straight parents.

    She and her partner adopted four, I believe.

    To pay for parenting they eventually sold their house on the east side and moved to eastern Washington, to find low cost housing.

    Those kids were darn lucky to have them.

    No one else wanted them.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Yes, they were lucky, zounds.
    December 6, 2012 11:21 am
    It's an irrelevant point, but yes, they were lucky.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • zounds wrote...
    Good for them
    December 6, 2012 10:20 am
    Many of you seem dense enough not to get that some of these couples have been together for many years.

    It is the symbolism, you morons.

    How does it impact you?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • jaydawg96 wrote...
    Zounds your the moron.
    December 6, 2012 10:26 am
    When people have to push something in other people's faces it wrong. gay people do that all the time there stupid and unfortunately Zounds so are u!!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • zounds wrote...
    How does it impact you, Jay?
    December 6, 2012 10:31 am
    .
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    It impacts society as a whole, zounds
    December 6, 2012 11:23 am
    not necesaarily individually. It'll have a detrimental effect on society in a generation or two. It's like we're trying to say that men and women as parents are identical. Thay are clearly not, and both bring their own unique contributions to children. How hard is that to see?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • zounds wrote...
    "It'll have a detrimental effect on society in a generation or two."
    December 6, 2012 11:36 am
    How?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Because...
    December 6, 2012 12:34 pm
    gays can deny it all they want, but there is a natural rightness and healthiness and balance to maleness and femaleness. In a few generations, "male/female" won't matter at all, or at least a lot less (maybe that's what some people are shooting for) and we'll all just be "equal and the same" in every little way. We can get rid of "male" and "female" and just call all of us "beings." And yeah, it does matter in the case of raising children, whether you can recognize it or not. I pity people who don't get that.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • zounds wrote...
    I do agree that the BEST situation is for kids to be brought up
    December 6, 2012 12:55 pm
    by a man and a woman who are not getting divorced (like most do).

    Having two moms who love each other, in my opinion, is a lot better than a man and a woman who hate each other.

    I've never been divorced but so many people I know have been, some multiple times and have had kids with multiple partners. I think the threat to future generations is that.

    Not a couple of old ladies who have been together for thirty years and want a piece of paper and the symbolism.

    But that is just me. I am happy for them.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Good lord, Zounds...
    December 6, 2012 1:21 pm
    "Having two moms who love each other, in my opinion, is a lot better than a man and a woman who hate each other." -- This is a SEPARATE issue entirely! can you not isolate the two? Anyway you've lready agreed with me; exceptions to any rule do not change the rule...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • zounds wrote...
    When the exceptions range over 50%
    December 6, 2012 2:00 pm
    I don't consider it a rule anymore.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @jaydawg96.....
    December 6, 2012 12:20 pm
    "When people have to push something in other people's faces it wrong. gay people do that all the time" ----- so by your standards, people who 'push Christianity in other people's faces are wrong'.... Interesting. But you clearly don't think so. OR for people who 'push thier anti-gay agenda in other people's faces'.... WOW. How one sided can ya get there buddy?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • jaydawg96 wrote...
    FormerMarineSg
    December 6, 2012 12:34 pm
    I am a christian but i dont push it in peoples faces your putting words in my mouth that i never said. I dont care about Gay rights if a gay person has to make there point over and overs its like a a guy pushing God in peoples faces i dont agree with that either so why dont you stop assuming and think before you write nonsense.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @jaydawg96
    December 6, 2012 4:05 pm
    Sorry man, I didn't put words in your mouth. Your own comment was exactly pushing your 'something' in other people's faces while you complain about others doing the same thing.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Poser Sgt.
    December 6, 2012 10:33 am
    This whole thing about Homosexuals and all other fringe minority groups looking to Liberals for special rights and privileges and REVENGE! And the Liberals granting them what they wanted for their votes. Nothing more! And now that your Dear Leader has, at the hands of you useful idiots been given four more years and thus UN accountable, all these groups are now being thrown under the bus, or soon to be, by your Dear Leader Obama.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Christian and the little fact that the Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law - even for people who don't think gay = evil or sin. but then we all know that you leave out most facts.
    December 6, 2012 10:42 am
    A little fact that you ignore, Poser, is that you, like me will be standing before God when we pass from this life to the next and you as well as I will have to answer for our Sins. Rather on believes in God or chooses not to is irrelevant. We will all be standing tall before God and be willing to confess and hope for forgiveness from God.

    One more thing Poser, the US Constitution does not mention marriage. Marriage is not a Constitution right. The ministry of propaganda is try to convince you that it is. It is not! It is a SACRAMENT from God between ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN! Just because you Parrots refuse to accept this does not matter. It is what it is and God will never bend on this.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @It's me...
    December 6, 2012 12:23 pm
    You clearly desire to be foolish don't you. Playing word games with my user name - Childish. But you claim that Marriage is not a constitutional right - you clearly have ignored wayyyy tooo many comments on here... Go check out the supreme court case of Loving vs. Virginia (an anti-mixed race marriage law that this couple violated). The supreme court of this land determined that marriage is indeed a constitutional right. Many things are not mentioned by specific name in the constitution. Airplanes. Cars. the FAA, Computers, etc. Yet all of these things are legal, thanks to the constitution. I'd ask you to not play the word game like AJ loves to do, but you unfortunately are hateful enough to do it to spite me, so I'm not going to waste my time.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hayduke wrote...
    It's me! Boo Who: How about "special rights" for churches?
    December 6, 2012 10:46 am
    After all,many conservative churches keep daring the IRS to try to tax them for political speech. Why should churches be tax exempt from political speech, while other organizations are not?

    And I wonder how you RWNJ's feel about government support of church programs like abstinence education and so-called "pregnancy crisis centers?"

    You freaks need to get over the gay issue. Marriage is already a largely failed institution; if anything, gay marriage will strengthen it. I bet studies will show that gays divorce less than breeders.

    And on that note, biblethumpers love to bring up the "marriage is for procreation" argument. Well, what about couples who don't want kids? or aren't able to have them? or are to old? You guys are so self-righteous and think you're the only ones with morals (Even if your leaders are a bunch of hypocrites and closeted gays). So tell us: Do we deny their right to marry as well?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Dan1 wrote...
    I guess I'm happy
    December 6, 2012 10:51 am
    for all these Fruitloops!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    anybody...
    December 6, 2012 11:23 am
    take a look at the photos of this?

    i saw a BUNCH of older couples who were getting hitched.

    i also saw at least TWO female couples that were, hm, well...pretty young. my guess is that they are in the late stages of being LUGS and may or may not actually stay with their "partner."

    why do i say this? sounds kinda cold? WELL, i've known TWO DIFFERENT "lesbian couples" who got "married/committed" (shortly after college) about 5-7 years ago and ALL FOUR broke up/"divorced" and are now dating men.

    also...something i noticed:

    ...not ONE picture of young (college aged/mid-20-something) gay men in line waiting to get married. LOTS of old, ugly dudes.

    just an observation.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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