Wash. State DP Measure Embraces Couples Married Out of State
A newly enacted law in Washington state recognizes domestic partnerships granted in other jurisdictions, though it reduces same-gender marriages to the level of domestic partnerships as well, a March 31 Associated Press article said.
The new expansion of the law also acts to protect visiting married couples who reside elsewhere--and who previously would have been legal strangers to one another without a Washington-registered domestic partnership.
The state senate voted in favor of the measure by a wide margin and with bipartisan support, sending it to the desk of Gov. Chris Gregoire with a tally of 28-19, the AP article said.
"With Gregoire's signature, Washington would become the fourth state to approve a similar bill, following Rhode Island, New York and Maryland," noted the AP.
Local GLBT equality advocates hailed the new law as a progressive step that addressed a deficiency in the state's domestic partnership law. The state's enhancement of a previously-existing domestic partnership law from 2007--popularly referred to as the "everything but marriage" law--was approved by the state's voters in 2009, marking the first time a measure expanding legal equality for GLBTs--instead of curtailing equality--got the nod by means of ballot initiative.
But the newly expanded law still did not recognize couples whose union was granted from outside the state, noted a March 30 article in Seattle newspaper The Stranger.
"That was an enormous loophole in the domestic-partnership laws," said Equal Rights Washington head Josh Friedes, who went on to add: "Five years ago this was very controversial; today it passed with strong bipartisan support. Five Republican senators voted for the bill."
Another important aspect of the law's newly added language is that families who reside in states where marriage equality is legal retain their status while within Washington's borders.
"Many people do not realize that while current Washington State Law protects people with out of state domestic partnerships and civil unions, people with same-sex marriages, are 'legal strangers' while visiting Washington State, under current state law," a March 30 Spokane City Buzz Examiner article said.
One Washington resident who had endured the privation of her legal family status while in another state was Janice Langbehn. While on a trip to Florida in February, 2007, Lanbehn's same-sex domestic partner, Lisa Pond, collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where she died hours later.
Not only is there no federal law that guarantees the rights and recognizes the relationship of same-sex families; there is, in fact, an anti-gay law, the 1996 "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA), which singles out gay and lesbian families for exclusion from any legal recognition. Under Florida law, Pond and Langbehn were legal strangers, and no federal statute existed that would have protected their interests.
Earlier this year, an order from President Obama that directs all hospitals receiving money through Medicare and Medicaid to allow same-sex families visitation rights took effect. The order also specifies that patients may expressly specify who may make medical decisions on their behalf. But no such directive existed at the time.
Moreover, Langbehn and Pond had made legal medical proxy arrangements, but despite documentation that showed that Langbehn had been legally entrusted with medical decisions by Pond, hospital staff refused to allow Langbehn to see Pond. After eight hours of enforced separation, Langbehn finally was permitted to join her stricken partner, even as Pond received final rites. Langbehn filed a federal lawsuit against the hospital, alleging negligence and infliction of emotional distress. That suit was dismissed on Sept. 29, 2009.
Langbehn spoke to the Examiner about what the new Washington state law meant.
"This issue is close to my family because even though Lisa and I took every legal precaution with living wills, wills and advanced directives, Jackson Memorial Hospital, in Miami, and the anti-gay policies of the state of Florida forced Lisa to die completely alone," Langbehn said. "It also allowed for the hospital to hide behind this and never issue our family an apology for the harm they caused Lisa in her final hours of life, as well as to our jointly adopted children who never were allowed to say goodbye to their mom."