Washington state Representative Maureen Walsh (R-Walla Walla) delivers a brief speech in defense of the right to marry that’s sincere and quietly emotional (and at times funny). Unlike most legislative speeches very much worth four minutes of your time:
If for some reason you can’t watch the speech itself, which is better than any summary I could come up with, I’ll just note that she speaks of how much she misses her late husband and how she valued their marriage, and how she doesn’t want to deny the possibility of marriage to her own daughter.
She won’t have to. Both houses of the Washington legislature have passed a bill authorizing same-sex marriage, and the governor is expected to sign it into law in the next few days.
Update: The bill was indeed signed into law Monday, February 13, by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire. The law is to take effect June 7, but it is possible that a petition process could delay implementation until after a public vote in November. Washington voters previously approved the state’s current domestic partnership law (which I gather amounts to marriage in all but name, as least as far as state law is concerned), and Gov. Gregoire expressed confidence that voters would likewise vote in favor of the new law.
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