The BRIARS need your HELP. Vote YES on REF 71

Cheri & I are at risk of losing many of our domestic partnership rights here in WA State. These rights are important to help us best provide for Alton and ourselves. This is an extremely serious matter for us and many other couples. We ask that you vote YES on Ref 71. A vote of Yes on Ref 71 would give same sex and non-same sex couples some of the 470 rights given to married couples in WA State.

Please understand, Ref 71 gives us nothing more than what we had been granted by the WA state legislature and the Governor before an out of state group organized and collected signatures to block the ruling. THIS IS NOT A MARRIAGE BILL. If you want to preserve marriage for a man and woman you can still have that protected when you vote YES on Ref 71. Religious preferences continue to be protected under Ref 71; no church or religious organization will be forced to recognize same-sex relationships.

This is a matter of CIVIL FAIRNESS. We desire to enjoy the same basic civil rights that are granted to other couples who choose to partner in a committed relationship.

The rights/protections granted by Ref 71 affect our family in real and serious ways. Just a few of the ways that our family has been impacted by NOT having access to these basic rights over the past 6 years include having to pay for health insurance twice (incurring double deductibles yearly), not being able to use pre-tax dollars to cover my out of pocket medical expenses on Cheri’s cafeteria plan, incurring over $5,000 in legal costs for a domestic partnership agreement to document our relationship, being taxed on property transfers between us, no access to multi-family car insurance discounts, paying for 2 drivers when we rent a car (spouses don’t have to pay extra), having to pay to change our last names (free name change w/marriage), having to go into extensive dialogue to get access to each other at a doctor’s office, etc. Daily we live with the anxiety that we would be denied access to each other in a medical emergency. Please vote YES on Ref 71 and help us protect our family, our property, our finances and our dignity.

A few of the rights granted by Ref 71 are listed below.
• Hospital visitation, health care decision–making, and information–access rights
• Inheritance rights and administration of the estate when the domestic partner dies without a will
• Rights regarding cemetery plots, disposition of remains, anatomical donations, and ordering of autopsies
• A surviving domestic partner may bring a wrongful death action based on the death of the other partner
• Testimonial privileges
• Community property rules apply
• Dissolution laws apply (with only a few exceptions)
• Domestic partners may sue on behalf of the community
• Domestic violence statutes apply
• Certain property transfers between partners are not taxed
• State veterans benefits apply
• Appointed and elected officials’ domestic partners are subject to the same laws and regulations that apply to officials’ spouses
• The right to use sick leave to care for a domestic partner
• The right to wages and benefits when a domestic partner is injured, and to unpaid wages upon the death of a domestic partner
• The right to unemployment and disability insurance benefits
• The right to workers' compensation coverage
• Insurance rights, including rights under group policies, policy rights after the death of a domestic partner, conversion rights and continuing coverage rights
• Rights related to adoption, child custody and child support

Thank you for helping me care for my family with a Yes vote on Ref 71.