Gregoire To Sign Gay Marriage Bill Monday (Today)

Not wasting any time, Governor Gregoire plans to sign the new gay marriage bill into law Monday.

At a special ceremony at 11:30 in Olympia, the Governor will sign into law the new gay marriage bill that passed the house and senate.  The bill will officially become law June 7, but if opponents are able to get enough signatures on two initiative challenging the law, it will be put on hold until November, when voters will decide the issue.   Gay marriage has become a hot button issue throughout a number of state in the west,  with a California court recently striking down that state's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage.  Despite that bill passing by nearly a 66 percent margin, the three judge panel struck it down.   According to a University of Washington poll an increasing number of people are either not opposed to the idea, or support it.  However, the poll data was largely taken on the West side of the state, and conflicts with other polls showing over 60 percent of Washintonians who do not favor gay marriage.