Washington State Governor Chris
Gregoire on Monday will sign a gay marriage bill approved by
lawmakers, the AP reported.
Gregoire will sign the bill into law at
11:30AM, making Washington the seventh state to legalize gay
marriage.
The Democrat-controlled House approved
the measure with a 55-43 vote on Wednesday, a day after a federal
court declared California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, in
violation of the United States Constitution, and one week after
the Washington Senate passed the measure with a wider margin than
expected.
Gregoire for the first time endorsed
marriage equality at a press conference introducing the bill last
month.
In an interview with gay glossy The
Advocate, the governor said she struggled with her Catholic faith
on the issue.
“I think it's fundamentally wrong to
discriminate. At the same time, I have accepted my religion can have
religious freedom to do what it chooses to do, but that cannot allow
a state to engage in discrimination, so that's been my evolution,”
she said.
(Related: Chris
Gregoire urges Americans to support gay marriage.)
Opponents have already begun an effort
to repeal the measure at the ballot box. But voters in 2009 rejected
a ballot question aimed at repealing the state's domestic partnership
law, which gives gay and lesbian couples all the protections of
marriage without the name.
If opponents gather sufficient
signatures to put the law up for a vote, its June start would be put
on hold pending the outcome of a November election.