ARGUMENTS HEARD IN WASHINGTON CASE: From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
...In a packed Seattle courtroom Tuesday, attorneys for eight couples urged a King County Superior Court judge to allow same-sex couples to marry in Washington even though a 6-year-old law forbids it.

"It's hollow indeed to say a person has the right to marry and exclude the person with whom they are in love," Bradley Bagshaw, one of several lawyers for the couples, said. "There are lots of different ways to create families."

But attorneys for the state, King County and same-sex marriage opponents, including Washington Evangelicals for Responsible Government -- said Washington law is clear: Marriage is between a man and a woman.

They said Judge William Downing can't simply toss out previous court rulings and the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by state lawmakers over Gov. Gary Locke's veto in 1998.

"The issue today isn't whether the Legislature was right," said Deputy Prosecutor Darren Carnell, who represents King County. "The issue is whether it was the Legislature's right to decide."

Downing said he would hand down a comprehensive written ruling next week, possibly as early as Tuesday.

No matter what he decides, attorneys expect to ask the state Supreme Court to take on the issue, which has proved to be both contentious, emotional and, in recent months, a focus of national political debate.

Washington was swept into the controversy in March, when six gay and lesbian couples made a symbolic trip to King County offices to apply for marriage licenses and, when they were turned down, sued county officials.

Two other couples later joined the lawsuit, and the state Attorney General's Office is now defending Washington's current law.

Janet Helson and Betty Lundquist, a Seattle couple who are raising two kids and have been together for more than 12 years, said they hope that Downing finds as unconstitutional the 1998 law that defines marriage as involving a man and a woman. ...

In court, Bagshaw argued marriage is a fundamental right that the state can't simply deny to certain people, contending that "equal rights" means lawmakers can't "draw a line along sex lines."

He said same-sex couples are unfairly being denied many of approximately 360 benefits and burdens that come with marriage, from community-property rights to being able to make critical medical decisions for each other.

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