At today's Board of Directors meeting of the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington, we adopted a draft Petition which we will soon begin to circulate in the State of Washington. It is not an initiative petition or any other legislative enactment. It is a good old-fashioned petition for redress of grievances, to be signed by people who say they believe in what it says. Here is the text we agreed to present:

We, the undersigned residents of the State of Washington, believe that any adult couple should be free to enter into a legal marriage regardless of their sex, gender, or sexual orientation, if they have chosen each other and are prepared to devote the love, effort, commitment, and sacrifice necessary to build a life together. We urge the people of the State of Washington and the members of the Washington State Legislature to recognize that civil marriage is a legal status that is separate and distinct from religious, ethnic, and any other marriage traditions, and that civil marriage carries with it a multitude of responsibilities, rights, and privileges that should be equally available to all adults in our society without regard to sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

We call on our representatives and community leaders to express their support for changing state and federal laws to achieve full equality under the law for everyone by permitting legal marriage without regard to the sex, gender, or sexual orientation of the couple. Accordingly, we call on the Washington Legislature to amend RCW 26.04 by removing references to sex and gender as eligibility requirements for a civil marriage license. We call on the United States Congress and the president to repeal the so-called, “Defense of Marriage Act,” to remove from federal laws all prejudice, restrictions, and disqualifications related to marital status based solely on sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

We hereby declare that as a fundamental matter of social justice, an affirmation of human and civil rights, and the measure of full equality under the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the State of Washington, same-sex couples should have the right to marry legally.

Watch for our Petition. It will be unveiled first at the "Out and About" in Pasco, Washington, May 25th. After that, it should be available for review and signature at most of the Pride events in our state.