Washington civil rights referendum passes

I think it's now safe to say that Referendum 71 (R71), the initiative that asked Washington state voters to re-confirm the expansion of domestic partnership rights and obligations in the state's originally limited domestic partnership legislation, has passed. Although ballot counting continued Friday, and opponents of R71 have at this point still refused to concede defeat, reports across the state indicate that supporters have secured a virtually insurmountable lead of 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent.

This is an especially sweet surprise for those who don't believe that a person's civil rights have any place on a ballot and who question the ethics and lawfulness of the public being in a position to vote against a particular minority group.

Also known as Washington state's "everything but marriage" law, the new bill expands the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage. This marks the first time any U.S. state's voters have approved a gay equality measure at the ballot box.

Congratulations to the hard-working coalition of organizations, communities, major employers (including Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Google) and small businesses, who, in a short six week campaign, managed to succeed in doing the right thing.