Washington State is about to pass (hopefully) some rights for marriage equality. (Seattlepi Link) Though not on the same level of saying ‘marriage’, it is in the right direction. You’d think this would be an easy thing for us, but Washington State has this thing called the Cascade Mountains that divides the state into two parts, two near-polar personalities, that of eastern washington conservatives and western washington liberals.
But to hear a democrat senator (Sen. James Hargrove, D-Hoquiam) say “… this bill discriminates against married people,” gives me chills. The quote didn’t indicate how this senator got to that conclusion. Thank god for Sen. Brian Weinstein, D-Mercer Island, tried to be the voice of reason: “My good friend (Sen. James Hargrove, D-Hoquiam), who just said that this bill discriminates against married people — no it doesn’t, because married people already have all these rights.”
Rightly so. It’s way better (easier?) to go after the legal rights associated with being in a married-type relationship…
Here are the hope-soon-to-be rights:
- Health care facility visits.
- Ability to grant consent for health care for a partner who is not competent. The patient’s provider could receive patient information.
- Title and rights to cemetery plots and rights of interment.
- Right to control disposition of a deceased partner’s remains, including right to make anatomical gifts, authorize autopsies and consent to remove partner’s remains from a cemetery plot.
- Inheritance rights when the partner dies without a will.
