WY House Rejects Domestic Partners

The Wyoming House has rejected the domestic partners bill that passed out of its committee on Monday.  

The House voted 35-to-24 against the bill. It marked the first time that pro-gay legislation reached a full floor debate in the state Legislature.  Proponents of the bill said that it would grant same-sex couples as well as other citizens a way to share their property and make health care decisions for each other. Opponents warned that the bill threatened to open the state to legal action seeking to force it to approve same-sex marriage. A separate bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that would outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That bill now heads to the full Senate.

Some activists had been hopeful regarding today's vote since the Republican-heavy committee vote had been 7-2.  That same committee had rejected a marriage equality bill by a 5-4 vote minutes earlier.