Referendum 71 in Washington state has passed on a narrow margin.  This means now that same sex domestic couples and domestic partneers of the opposite sex i.e. all domestic couples as registered by the state have the same rights as married couples.  We are the first state to make this issue a gender neutral situation.  I just need to say that yes in some corner of the US there is equality .  Ok can we get rid of the word marriage now as a statute of a legal word. I can hope, perhaps at the federal level this could happen in our lifetime once DOMA is axed !