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Monday, January 16, 2006
Capitol Watch: Fairness, first
Sen. Bill Finkbeiner's announcement that he would vote in favor of a gay civil rights bill is not the only thing lending urgency to getting the bill to the floor.
Dangling over the delicate political balance in the Legislature is the overdue ruling from the state Supreme Court on the fate of Washington's Defense of Marriage Act. Were that decision to fall before the bill is passed, it could at very least redirect lawmakers' focus on the need to respond to the ruling.
Were the high court to overturn DOMA, the connection between the marriage issue and the civil rights bill, which bill proponents have denied, would be hard to avoid. The civil rights bill would ban sexual orientation as grounds for discrimination in employment, housing and lending. Because government issues marriage licenses, it's hardly an intellectual leap to argue that government not be allowed to discriminate on sexual orientation grounds, either.
The high court, as always, will move at its own speed. But the Legislature likely would be better equipped to deal with the marriage issue if it has already resolved the fundamental civil rights issue first.
Tell us what's on your mind.
 | |
| Is the right to same-sex unions as fundamental as the right for gay people to be free from discrimination in employment, housing and lending? | |
 42.8%Yes, it is a basic civil right. |
14.0% No, the others are more fundamental. |
| 41.0% None of them are rights owed to gays. |
2.2% Don't know or care. |
| Total Votes: 278 | |
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