All-But-Marriage Under Threat in Washington
This is Kate Fleming (left) and her partner Charlene Strong. Kate, an accomplished actress, found her life's calling recording audio books. She took a pseudonym to honor her great-grandmother, a Vaudeville performer of the same name.
If you've listened to audio books narrated by Anna Fields, such as Vonda McIntyre's Dreamsnake or The Moon and the Sun; Catherine Asaro's Ascendant Sun, Primary Inversion, The Quantum Rose, The Radiant Seas; Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang; Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters; or Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind (about Nobel Laureate John Nash, off which the movie of the same name was based), then you've listened to Kate Fleming's voice. Charlene describes Kate, her "Special K", best:
I always thought of her as sort of like Lucille Ball," she beams. "Kate just had that goofiness about her, and that comedic timing. She was very smart, too, just one of the smartest people I've ever met in my life. When I wasn't with her, I was always thinking about her, and when I was with her, I was having the time of my life.
In 2006, during a flash-flood, Kate rushed into the basement of their Madison Valley home in a attempt to save her audio recordings, her life's work. The water rose too fast, and Charlene risked her own life to pull Kate from the water. An ambulance rushed them to a hospital, where Kate was taken into the ICU. A social worker barred Kate's way, informing her that, under Washington law, the hospital did not recognize same-sex partners in emergency situations.
Agonizing minutes passed as Charlene tried desperately to reach one of Kate's family members by phone. She contacted someone, and received permission to be by Kate's side.
She had enough time to tell her she loved her before Kate died.
When Charlene attempted to make funeral arrangements, the funeral director refused to address questions to her, and would speak only to Kate's mother.
In the midst of the New England marriage battles, some of you may remember my shocked post about Washington. They passed a domestic partnership law that included all the rights of marriage - everything but the name. The governor signed it on May 18th.
With all the rights offered in this bill, Charlene Strong could have walked right into that hospital room. She could have spoken directly to the funeral director. She would not have had to use Kate's family members for proxies in every decision. And imagine, just imagine for a moment, how horrific an already unspeakably terrible night would have been if Kate's family were not accepting - if they didn't approve of Kate's "lifestyle".
Of course, the anti-equality forces moved immediately to keep the bill from taking effect.
Even though the bill was specifically about domestic partnerships, not marriage, the anti-equality people formed a group called Protect Marriage Washington. Like Maine, Washington has a referendum process whereby the people can vote to cancel bills passed by the legislature, and so they started collecting signatures. Equality activists ran a Decline to sign campaign in response.
On July 25th, the anti-equality activists turned in 137,881 signatures. For a moment there was hope - they needed 120,577 valid signatures to qualify the referendum for the November ballot, and many signatures are often invalidated in situations like this. But then the Washington Secretary of State, in violation of the Washington constitution started counting signatures of people who were not registered voters when they signed the petition. A judge upheld the practice, and the referendum cleared the hurdle by a bare 1200 signatures - 121,780.
What is now known as Referendum 71, or R-71, is on the Washington ballot this November.
In a quirk of Washington ballot law, pro-equality forces must vote YES on 71, approving the bill the legislature passed, while anti-equality forces must vote to reject 71, and the domestic partnership bill.
Washington Families Standing Together, the pro-equality forces, are asking that people do a number of things. As in Maine, voting ends on November 4th. If Referendum 71 passes, Washington couples (this includes straight senior couples, who have their own reasons to prefer domestic partnerships over marriage) will be able to protect their partners and families with domestic partnerships that bring all the rights of marriage.
Polls show the "Approve 71" campaign as barely ahead, with undecided voters, as in California's Prop 8, the ones who will make the final decision for Washington.
We have 29 days.
What you can do:
1. If you live in Washington, spread the word about 71. There are many ways to volunteer.
2. If you don't live in Washington, donations help. Even a little helps.
3. Call from Home. Washington has set up a Phone-from-Home system. All you have to do is fill in some simple information here, and an organizer will be in contact with you soon.
4. Talk to People. Do you know anyone who lives in Washington? Call them. Talk with them, and make sure that if they support equal rights for everyone, they know they need to vote YES on 71.