Washington Families Standing Together
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Washington Families Standing Together
Washington Families Standing Together (WAFST) was founded in 2009 to preserve domestic partnerships in Washington State by urging voters to approve Referendum 71. When Protect Marriage Washington, a group that opposes extending any benefits to same-sex couples, filed a petition to prevent Senate Bill 5688 (as passed by the Washington State Legislature and signed by Governor Christine Gregoire) from going into effect, WAFST sued Secretary of State Sam Reed in an attempt to keep the issue off the ballot. They argued that the Secretary's office had accepted signatures provided by people who were not registered to vote or gathered by people who did not sign their signature sheets, and that the petitions were thus invalid. However, the court declined to block the referendum, which appeared on the 2009 ballot. During the campaign, WAFST also pointed out the benefits of the domestic partnership law to elderly couples - it would have extended benefits to "unmarried heterosexual couples ...
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United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ...
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Washington (U
Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States Washington may also refer to: Places England * Washington, Tyne and Wear, a town in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough ** Washington Old Hall, ancestral home of the family of George Washington * Washington, West Sussex, a village and civil parish Greenland * Cape Washington, Greenland * Washington Land Philippines *New Washington, Aklan, a municipality *Washington, a barangay in Catarman, Northern Samar *Washington, a barangay in Escalante, Negros Occidental *Washington, a barangay in San Jacinto, Masbate *Washington, a barangay in Surigao City United States * Washington, Wisconsin (other) * Fort Washington (disambiguati ...
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2009 In LGBT Rights
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2009. Events January * 1 – Same-sex marriage begins in Norway. February * 1 – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir becomes prime minister of Iceland, the first openly gay head of government in the modern world. * 9 – Domestic Partnership Registry opens in Phoenix, Arizona. * 12 ** In the United States Congress, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York and Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont reintroduce the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) (H.R.1024 & S.424). **The government of Hungary approves a new registered partnership bill which would only apply to same-sex couples, providing all of the rights of marriage except adoption and the ability to take the same surname. Registered partnership legislation was previously passed by the government in 2007, but struck down as unconstitutional 16 days before taking effect since its availability to opposite-sex couples duplicated already-existing mar ...
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Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the U.S. state, state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 makes it one of the nation's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about south of the Canada–United States border, Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling . The Seattle area was inhabited by Nat ...
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Domestic Partnership In Washington State
State Registered Domestic Partnerships (SRDP) in Washington were created in 2007 following the ''Andersen v. King County'' decision. Subsequent legislation has made an SRDP the equivalent of marriage under state law. As a result of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state, from June 30, 2014, SRDP will be available only when at least one of the partners is sixty-two years of age or older. History of Washington Domestic Partnerships Beginnings In its ''Andersen v. King County'' decision, the Washington Supreme Court noted the Legislature was free to revisit any law it had previously enacted. Lacking sufficient votes to change the marriage laws, the Legislature worked to pass a domestic partnership law. After much debate, lawmakers approved a bill on April 10, 2007. conferring eleven of the rights of marriage to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples (when at least one of the individuals is over the age of 62). Governor Christine Gregoire signed the bill April 21, 20 ...
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Washington Referendum 71 (2009)
The 2009 Washington Referendum 71 (R-71) legalized domestic partnership in Washington state, the first statewide referendum in the United States that extended to LGBT people the rights and responsibility of domestic partnership. The bill had passed State Legislature, and it was signed into law by the Governor in May 2009, but opponents gathered enough signatures to put the measure before the voters, who returned ballots by mail over three weeks ending on November 3, 2009, approving the measure 53% to 47%. The new law went into effect 30 days later, on December 3, 2009. Prior to this Washington state vote, a ban on same-sex marriages and civil unions, Arizona Proposition 107, was rejected by voters in that state in 2006, who two years later passed the civil-unions-neutral Arizona Proposition 102. History Senate Bill 5688 was signed by Governor Christine Gregoire on May 18, 2009. On July 25, 2009, the organization Protect Marriage Washington submitted petitions containing 137 ...
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Washington State Legislature
The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators plus the Lieutenant Governor acting as president. The state is divided into 49 legislative districts, each of which elect one senator and two representatives. The State Legislature meets in the Legislative Building at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia. As of January 2021, Democrats control both houses of the Washington State Legislature. Democrats hold a 57-41 majority in the House of Representatives and a 28-21 majority in the Senate (with one Democratic senator caucusing with the 20 Republicans). History The Washington State Legislature traces its ancestry to the creation of the Washington Territory in 1853, following successful arguments from settlers north of the Columbia River to the U.S. federal governme ...
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Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again in 2008. She is the second female governor of Washington. Gregoire chaired the National Governors Association for the 2010–2011 term. She also served on the Governors' Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D. C. Early life, education, and legal career Gregoire was born in Adrian, Michigan. She was raised in Auburn, Washington, by her mother, Sybil Grace Jacobs (née Palmer), who worked as a short-order cook. After graduating from Auburn Senior High School, she attended the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts in speech and sociology. At UW, she became a member of the Sigma Iota chapter of the Kappa Delta sorority. She then attended law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane ...
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Sam Reed
Sam S. Reed (born January 10, 1941) is an American accountant and politician who served as the 14th Secretary of State of Washington from 2001 to 2013 and is a member of the Republican Party. Reed was Washington's fourteenth Secretary of State. He opted not to run for a fourth term, and retired in January 2013. Reed received his bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from Washington State University. He was elected to the office of Secretary of State in 2000, as one of only two Republicans to be elected to statewide office that year, after serving as Thurston County auditor. Early life Reed, whose family lived in Washington in territorial days, grew up in Wenatchee. His family later moved to Spokane, where Reed graduated from Lewis and Clark High School. He attended Washington State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in social studies and master's degree in political science. In 1969 he started the Cascade Conference, which ultimately evolved into ...
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LGBT Rights In The United States
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the United States are among the most socially, culturally, and legally permissive and advanced in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence on the issue changing significantly since the late 1980s. In 1962, all 50 states criminalized same-sex sexual activity, but by 2003 all remaining laws against same-sex sexual activity were invalidated in Lawrence v. Texas. Beginning with Massachusetts in 2004, LGBT Americans had won the right to marry in all 50 states by 2015. Additionally, in many states and municipalities, LGBT Americans are explicitly protected from discrimination in employment, housing, and access to public accommodations. Many LGBT rights in the United States have been established by the United States Supreme Court, which has invalidated a state law banning protected class recognition based upon homosexuality, struck down sodomy laws nationwide, struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, ma ...
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List Of LGBT Rights Organizations
This is a list of LGBT rights organizations around the world. For social and support groups or organizations affiliated with mainstream religious organizations, please see ''List of LGBT-related organizations and conferences''. For organizations affiliated with political parties, please see ''List of LGBT organizations that affiliate with political parties''. International LGBTQIA+ Youth India* All Out * International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) * IGLYO * International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex Law Association (ILGLaw) * International Lesbian Information Service (defunct) * Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees * GATE * Global Respect In Education (GRIN) * Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA) * Human Dignity Trust * The Kaleidoscope Trust * Organization Intersex International (OII) * OutRight Action International (formerly IGLHRC) * Trans March Africa Algeria * Tranz Homos DZ Kenya * Gay and ...
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Washington United For Marriage
Washington United for Marriage was a coalition of secular and religious organizations in Washington State involved in lobbying the State Legislature to provide marriage for same-sex couples. The organization was founded in 2011, and formed to secure passage of a bill in the Washington legislature calling for same-sex marriage, and to then defend such a measure should a statewide referendum be launched to challenge it. Members of the coalition include Equal Rights Washington, the Human Rights Campaign, and the American Civil Liberties Union. Within 24 hours of having been publicly launched, the coalition had secured an endorsement for same-sex marriage in Washington from the editorial board of the Seattle Times. History The 2009 public decision to allow domestic partnerships for same-sex couples through the approval of Referendum 71 made Washington the first state in the United States to approve any form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples at a public vote. Led ...
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