Referendum 71 Approved in Washington

The Advocate is doing a HUGE disservice to the LGBT community by not highlighting this story more. This is a HUGE victory for our movement, full marriage rights that was granted by THE VOTERS--not activist judges, not state legislatures--THE PEOPLE! Yeah we don't have the word "marriage" but we every single state level right and protection as hetreosexual couples. This is a tremendous event in our history. Why is our major LGBT news outlet falling flat on its face in giving this story the type of coverage and commentary it deserves?

The LGBT community needs to wake up! Stop drinking the Kool Aid "marriage leaders" have been selling you. The consistent poll results are that anyone 45 years and older as well as the majority of African-Americans and Hispanics are against "gay marriage" and they consistently vote no at 60% or greater. Yet, when "marriage" is replaced with civil unions the level of support grows substantially and we would WIN our rights! We could have all the legal rights and protections of civil unions, both state and federal, NOW helping the millions of gay and lesbian families who need these protections. It is a waste of time and money to go decades longer fighting over the word "marriage" that frankly represents the failure of a heterosexual institution. After Tuesday's election there is no way a Democrat is going to take up the "gay marriage" fight when the loss count is now at 31-0, it is political suicide. The time is NOW to gain our full legal rights and protections via CIVIL UNIONS!!!!

Separate is NOT equal. We didn't lose, but we haven't won

Congrats on a win yes. Yeah. Equality, no. There will likely be problems just like in NJ where you will be discriminated against by people who do not get it and it will require litigation that would not have been required if it was called marriage. Better than nothing, yes, but keep fighting. Like it or not yes, semantics do matter. That is a lesson that was already learned many times over.

Franz: another formal difference than the word "marriage" might be the notions "husband” or “wife". You can't call each other husband or wife in a domestic partnership. But you are completely right: where is the national press about this victory in Washington? It’s about the Maine defeat allover. It's time for the movement to change strategy and become pragmatic instead of trying to fight almost hysterically over “a word” at the risk of losing everything like they did in California and Maine. The figures are obvious no? DP in WA: 52% Yes / 48% No. SSM in California/Maine: 47% Yes / 53% No. Don’t they get it? So now in CA and ME they’re left with nothing, until another generation of older conservatives have died. And then again: which national politician of any significance is risking defending SSM confronted with those figures? Even Obama is against SSM but in favor of DP. But now with all the attention on Maine, Obama himself didn’t even notice the victory in Washington.

Domestic Partnership and Marriage are as equal as "white" and "colored" water fountains-- yes, the water is from the same resevoir, but....

Mark, No actually Ref 71 is the same as marriage it's just not called marriage. I'm tired of people complaining about it not being called marriage, I guess we have to breed and be "acceptable" now. This skimpy article that is coming 3 days after the election in which it has been ahead the whole time is disgusting. I find marriage boring, but equal protection under the law is a minimum requirement for a democracy, I don't care if they call it 69 if it has the same benefits and responsibilities. Doesn't any one get that, that most of the gay "leadership" is willing to lose equal rights over semantics. I'm not familiar with how this works but six states have legalized gay marriage how does DOMA affect them?

I am so happy Ref 71 passed. Its not full equality yet, but its on the way there. I found it insulting that my civil rights were actually put to a vote, but at least it passed. Now on to getting DOMA repealed and true, full equality!

Interesting, an article about a win in the struggle towards equality, allowing the passage of a measure to expand the domestic partnership benefits to reach the limit of the state's legal protections, shy of marriage because of DOMA... and you ask why people are LETTING their rights be denied? First, even if it were called marriage in Washington, it still wouldn't make a difference until DOMA is repealed. Secondly, the fight is continuing. This happens to be a win. This went to popular vote and the people voted for expanded protections for partnerships. If a measure like this loses, people blame all of the gay rights organizations for not doing enough. We get a win and the response is "why are you LETTING them keep you from full equality"? That's screwed up.

The sign in the picture is incorrect. Gays/lesbians in Washington don't have equal civil rights. The only way to have equal civil rights is to have civil marriage. These people will be denied many rights because they are not married. Why do we continue to let heterosexuals deny us our constitutional equal civil rights?