SEATTLE, March 8, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Seattle’s mayor has announced a decision to recognize the same-sex “marriages” of city employees who are “married” elsewhere. By doing so, mayor Greg Nickels will confer upon them all the benefits and protections normally extended to legally married heterosexual spouses such as health care and pensions. Nickels told The Associated Press that the measure is “the next best thing” to issuing marriage licenses – a move he says he cannot do, because that decision belongs to the county.
If council approves the idea, it would also mandate that all contractors who do business with the city tender the same benefits to its employees. State Christian Coalition head Rick Forcier is critical of the plan. He calls the move an obvious abuse of state law. “What he’s about to do is anarchy—taking the law into his own hands,” Forcier told the AP. “People cannot be recognized as married in one jurisdiction and not in another.” In 1988, state legislators passed the “Defense of Marriage Act”, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The move made Washington the 38th state to enact such legislation. Governor Gary Locke vetoed the law but was subsequently countermanded by the House. The executive order to be issued by Nickels on Monday would alter the wording from ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ on current forms to simply say “spouse”. Read the CNN report at: https://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/08/gay.marriage.ap/