Objection: Lawyers react to resolution

The Washington State Bar Association’s decision to support equal civil marriage rights for same-sex couples has not set well with some Yakima Valley lawyers.

That’s not necessarily because of opposition to same-sex marriage, though.

Some lawyers just don’t think the bar association should be taking a stance on such a controversial political issue; at least, not without polling its members first.

“I didn’t even know (the board members) were taking this issue up until I read about it on the Internet,” Yakima lawyer Bob Velikanje said Tuesday. “I guess that’s what concerns me more than the substance of the proposal itself.

“I’m not opposed to same-sex marriage; that doesn’t bother me. I just think the bar association should stay out of it.”

Another local attorney said the bar association overstepped its bounds with the resolution.

“I just don’t feel it’s the bar association’s place to get involved in a political matter of this nature,” Al Schweppe said. “I think it’s for the legislature to decide.”

The association’s 14-member board of governors passed its resolution unanimously at a meeting earlier this month. Board members said their decision was based on practical concerns in clarifying legal proceedings involving same-sex couples as well as basic fairness for those couples.

In the past two years, the state legislature has passed domestic partnership laws that expanded legal rights for same-sex couples, but those couples still do not have all the civil marriage rights and protections extended to heterosexual couples.

However, Schweppe, who ran as a Republican in the state House District 14 primary in August  and was a delegate at the Republican national convention, said the domestic partnership laws are “more than sufficient” to address legal rights of same-sex couples.

Schweppe also said he was surprised the board would consider such a resolution without taking a poll of the state’s lawyers.

“We don’t know how much support there is for this resolution” among bar association members, he said.

“Quite frankly, I think a resolution of this magnitude should be voted on by the rank-and-file membership of the bar association,” he said, “and then publish the results.”

“Most of the people I’ve talked to — with a few exceptions — would just like to have a chance to vote on it,” he said. “We vote on a board of governors, so (in that voting) they could have included a question on ‘where do you stand on same-sex marriage?’ Or a better question would have been, ‘Should the bar association even be taking a position on this?’”

• Tim Kelly can be reached at 577-7752 or tkelly@yakimaherald.com.