Local News

Same-sex couples gathered in downtown Seattle today to get their marriage licenses. King County Executive Dow Constantine was on hand to sign marriage certificates, while syndicated columnist Dan Savage and others celebrated the landmark day in Washington State history. Here are some highlights.

Today, four states vote on marriage equality. In Maine, the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination is hoping for a victory. UWEE spoke with their Executive Director, Lucky Hollander. PORTLAND, Me. — Lucky Hollander walked into the Portland coffee shop like a woman on a mission. Because she was. As Executive Director of Maine’s Religious Coalition Against…

Labor leader Randi Weingarten delivers a speech on the importance of reelecting Barack Obama at the first gathering of the LGBT Caucus at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo by Ilona Idlis/UW Election Eye)

CHARLOTTE — There was much that the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Caucus celebrated when it convened for its first meeting during the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.  For the first time, all 50 states, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico, sent an official LGBT participant. Over a dozen hailed from Washington state alone.

Together, the delegates, alternates and other sanctioned staff counted 535 strong and made up 8% of the total delegate count. Couple that with the over 30 LGBT members of the national committee and the largest transsexual delegation, and the Democrats have the most gay-friendly political convention in American history.

“We wouldn’t have needed a room this size a few years ago,” quipped speaker Tammy Baldwin to the packed hall. Baldwin, an LGBT Wisconsin state representative, is running to become the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate in 2012.

Reverend Oliver White photographed on May 31, 2012. Rev. White has lost members of his congregation due to his beliefs on homosexuality and gay marriage and is facing a daunting debt on the loan of his church building. "I am not a crusader," says White, "But I have become a lightning rod inadvertently."(Photo by A.V. Crofts/ UW Election Eye)

Minnesotans will vote in November on whether to amend their state constitution to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman — and Minnesota Reverend Oliver White has taken a controversial stand against it. With the announcement yesterday that Washington State’s Referendum 74, which seeks to overturn the measure legalizing same-sex marriage in the state,  was approved for ballot, the national debate around same-sex marriage is certain to play out in November in our own backyard.

St. Paul, Minn. — Reverend Oliver White is a tall man.

As he folds himself into the restaurant booth for our interview, White maneuvers with the skill of someone used to fitting his frame into tight spaces.

These days, Reverend White is used to occupying tight spaces.

UW Election Eye is on the road for three weeks, covering politics in the heartland of America. In Wisconsin, we found the same currents on same-sex marriage as we see in Washington. In Madison, we met a pastor whose 7^th and 8^th grade Confirmation students are writing to politicians advocating for same-sex marriage.

Reverend Sue Schneider in her office of Trinity Lutheran Church in Madison. (Photo by Kirsten Johnson/ UW Election Eye)

MADISON, Wisc. — Same-sex marriage is on the ballot in Washington state this fall. In this upper-Midwest state, same-sex relations last faced voters in 2009 when a domestic partnership plan was passed as part of Wisconsin’s biennial budget bill.

Reverend Susan Schneider, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Madison, wants to see marriage, not just partnerships, on the ballot — and soon.

Schneider’s junior high school Confirmation class at Trinity Lutheran is writing dozens of letters to political officials pushing for marriage equality.

“God loves everyone,” read the letters we saw. “One way we see a need for change in our state and in our world is that not everyone can marry the person they love…We want it to be a better state for all people.”

In the state’s gubernatorial contest this year, it’s not just about who is on the ballot. Perhaps just as important is what else may be on the ballot.

A voter in Mt. Vernon, Wash., signs a petition during February's GOP caucus (Photo by Alex Stonehill / UW Election Eye).

Case in point: Referendum 74.

R-74 is being pursued by Preserve Marriage Washington to block Senate Bill No. 6329, which legalizes same-sex marriage. This bill passed the state legislature in February, was signed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, and is scheduled to go into effect June 7, but would be delayed if enough signatures are gathered to put R-74 on the November ballot. If R-74 makes the ballot, the outcome of its vote would determine the law’s fate.

In the state’s gubernatorial contest this year, it’s not just about who is on the ballot. Perhaps just as important is what else may be on the ballot.

A voter in Mt. Vernon, Wash., signs a petition during February's GOP caucus (Photo by Alex Stonehill / UW Election Eye).

Case in point: Referendum 74.

R-74 is being pursued by Preserve Marriage Washington to block Senate Bill No. 6329, which legalizes same-sex marriage. This bill passed the state legislature in February, was signed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, and is scheduled to go into effect June 7, but would be delayed if enough signatures are gathered to put R-74 on the November ballot. If R-74 makes the ballot, the outcome of its vote would determine the law’s fate.