New Washington law gives gay couples expanded rights

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Gay and lesbian couples lined up by the dozens to register as domestic partners under a new state law that took effect Monday.

The Washington secretary of state's office registered the first couples shortly after opening its doors at 8 a.m.

A crowd of about 100 gathered outside the building counted down "Five, four, three, two, one!" and sent up a cheer as the doors were opened.

Registered domestic partners will get some enhanced rights, including hospital visitation rights, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations and inheritance rights when there is no will.

But domestic partners aren't getting all the rights that traditionally married couples have, and the registry is not the same as civil unions offered to gay couples in other states.

The first couple in line Monday morning - Jim Malatak, 64, and Rick Sturgill, 53, of Seattle - said the partnership registry was a first step on the road toward full marriage rights for same-sex couples.

"Wonderful. Supremely wonderful," Malatak said after a state official stamped the couple's paperwork and issued their partnership certificate. "I hope this can be the model for young gays coming up."

To be registered, couples must share a home, not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.

In a provision similar to California law, unmarried, heterosexual senior couples are also eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner is at least 62. Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.

The new law takes effect a year after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage, ruling that state lawmakers were justified in passing the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts marriage to unions between a man and woman.

About 85 couples were registered after the first hour Monday, with another 50 standing in a line that wrapped around the front of the secretary of state's office in downtown Olympia.

Sympathetic drivers offered honks and gave thumbs-up to the couples, some of whom brought their children for the event. No protesters could be seen.

Some waiting in line brought collapsible camping chairs and umbrellas, though only a very light rain fell for a few minutes during the first hour.