Referendum 71 Seniors

Staff Reporter
10/02/2009

Steve Doty and Linda Dunbar are a senior–citizen couple. They live in North Seattle and they've been together a long time. They've seen each other through her breast cancer and his Parkinson's Disease. But they're not married. Steve and Linda would be directly affected by Referendum 71. It's a measure that's going to be on the Washington state ballot November 3.

Dunbar: "Yeah, this is for better or worse, sickness and health."

Reporter: "Did you guys ever think about getting married?"

Dunbar: "I don't think so. One of the things that happened was that I was baptized in the Roman Catholic church. And I've been divorced. I could not receive sacrament if I married again. And I guess living in sin – quote, unquote – is different than that."

In the last legislative session, lawmakers passed a new set of expanded rights for domestic partners. It's nicknamed the "Everything but Marriage" law. And it's controversial because it extends rights to gay couples – as though they were married. But it also affects older heterosexual couples if one of them is over age 62.

Linda and Steve's dog, Schuster, runs back and forth between them as they sit in their modest apartment. They recently got rid of their couch to give Steve more room to maneuver with his walker. Linda jokes that her partner can be a handful.

Dunbar: "He's very difficult – no, I'm kidding. We've been together since 1991. We just thought that it would be a really good thing if we made a commitment to each other. And not just move in and have a fling. This is the real deal."

Steve and Linda have registered their domestic partnership with the state. They say getting married would hurt them financially. Older couples who marry can lose some of their social security benefits, or pensions.

Bill Dorn talks to couples like Steve and Linda all the time. He's with Senior Services of King County. The agency helps seniors understand their rights. He finds many are reluctant to talk about their unmarried status.

Dorn: "There are a lot of seniors who find themselves choosing to be a couple, and not marry because of those financial concerns. And they come from a generation, where that's not socially acceptable."

Anne Levinson chairs the Approve 71 campaign to uphold the state's domestic partner rights. She says many seniors don't realize hospitals could keep them from a loved–one's bedside. Or from claiming a body and making funeral arrangements if their partner dies.

Levinson: "I think with seniors, and with the rest of us ... it often takes a crisis for us to realize that without those legal protections, we are often left in not only a financially tenuous position but in terms of being able to make decisions for our loved ones, or have access to care. The tragedies we've seen over and over again when an emergency strikes and people do not have the protections of domestic partnership laws – it's sad."

Opponents to Referendum 71 didn't return numerous phone calls. The group Protect Marriage Washington is against Referendum 71. Its Website says expanding domestic partnership rights isn't necessary because seniors and others can obtain many of those same protections through wills and contracts.

Steve and Linda say they want their relationship respected as though they were married. Linda once wound up in the emergency room with a head injury. But doctors wouldn't tell Steve what was happening because they weren't married and weren't yet registered partners. They don't want to lose the rights they now have.

Dunbar: "I mean I have to be realistic about our age, and I think making those life decisions that mean so much. I don't want him left out, and I fear that could happen – that he wouldn't be able to see me, or that I would be at the mercy of a hospital somewhere where, where I can't make a decision for myself."

Voting on Referendum 71 can be tricky. A "yes" vote would leave intact the expanded rights for domestic partners already approved by the Legislature.

A "no" vote would repeal those rights.

I'm Carol Smith, KUOW News.

© Copyright 2009, KUOW