The State of Washington is seen as one of the most progressive states in the United States in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights, with jurisprudence having evolved significantly since the late 20th century. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1976. LGBTQ people are fully protected from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations. The state enacted comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2012, and same-sex couples are allowed to adopt. Conversion therapy on minors has also been illegal since 2018.
Washington is frequently referred to as one of the United States's most LGBTQ-friendly states, and its largest city Seattle has a thriving LGBTQ community, ranked as the fifth largest in the country. Opinion polling has shown that a majority of Washingtonians support same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. A 2019 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute showed that 74% of residents supported anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people. In November 2012, voters approved a same-sex marriage law in Referendum 74.
History Several Native American tribes in modern-day Washington recognize individuals who act, behave and live as the opposite gender, now referred to as "two-spirit". Among the Quileute people, such individuals are known as yah'wa.
In 2020, the Washington State Legislature established an LGBT coordinator within the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs. The legislation to this effect also allows LGBT veterans who received a dishonorable discharge under Don't Ask, Don't Tell to have that discharge changed, and ensures that those veterans and their families have access to veteran benefits.
In March 2024, Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill that would add LGBT history to the state school curriculum, as part of other updates and changes intended to make it more representative and inclusive of minorities.
In February 2025, the city council of Olympia passed a resolution declaring itself a "sanctuary city" for LGBTQ people. The first declaration of its kind in Washington, it includes commitments (on top of protections already present in state law) to the "equal and dignified treatment" of LGBTQ residents at the municipal level.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity After being created from the northern portion of the Oregon Territory in 1853, the newly-created Washington Territory adopted all its laws from Oregon. At the time, the Oregon Territory did not criminalize sodomy (it did, however, enact a sodomy law later that year). The Washington Territory thus did not possess a sodomy law at its creation, nor did it ever pass one later on; the Washington Territory being one of the few United States territories never to criminalize sodomy. In 1893, shortly after statehood, in the case of State v. Place, the Washington Supreme Court took note of the absence of a sodomy law. The Washington State Legislature acted swiftly, enacting Washington's first ever sodomy law only 19 days after the Place ruling. It prohibited "crimes against nature" with ten to fourteen years' imprisonment. Over the following years, the courts convicted multiple people of sodomy, though also rejected some cases due to lack of evidence. As was the case for sodomy laws around the country at the time, the law punished both heterosexual and homosexual conduct and criminalized fellatio (oral sex) and anal intercourse.
Washington enacted a sterilization law in 1909, permitting "habitual criminals" to be forcefully sterilized. The only known person to be sterilized under the law was a (heterosexual) man in 1912 accused of statutory rape, though he was later found innocent of the crime. The law was amended in 1921, providing for the "possible sterilization of [...] moral degenerates and sexual perverts". The Washington Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional in 1942, holding that the "mental condition [of the accused] did not allow them fully to understand the nature of the notice". Those convicted of sodomy were further defined as "sexual psychopaths" under a 1949 psychopathic offender law. In 1953, the Supreme Court ruled that non-penetrative sex could not be considered sodomy, and in 1967, in the case of State v. Rhinehart, upheld the sodomy law as constitutional. The defendant, Keith Rhinehart, challenged the law as a violation of his right to privacy and on the grounds of vagueness and the establishment of religion, though the Court held that these contentions had "no merit". In 1972, a same-sex couple holding hands at a Seattle skating rink were arrested, resulting in protests and renewed debate surrounding the sodomy law.
Washington repealed its laws that criminalized consensual sodomy in June 1975, effective on July 1, 1976. Initially, the age of consent was different for heterosexual and homosexual conduct, though was unified in 1988 at 16.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Since 2001, Washington state has provided benefits to same-sex partners of state employees.
The state adopted a statute defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman in 1998. On August 4, 2004, King County Superior Court Judge William L. Downing ruled for the plaintiffs in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the law, becoming the first trial judge in the nation to rule that a state law prohibiting same-sex marriages, or DOMA, was unconstitutional. Downing's opinion analyzed the impact on children and found that expanding marriage rights to same-sex couples would do nothing to harm children of opposite-sex marriages while harming the stability of children raised by same-sex couples. In the 2006 consolidated appeal of Andersen v. King County, the Washington Supreme Court narrowly upheld the constitutionality of that law barring same-sex marriages. Since 2007, Washington state has recognized its own state-registered domestic partnerships, which are considered equivalent to the domestic partnerships, civil unions, and marriages of same-sex couples in other jurisdictions. It has also recognized same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships established in other jurisdictions since then.
Since 2011, Washington state has recognized same-sex marriages performed elsewhere as the equivalent of its own domestic partnerships.
In August 2011, the Suquamish Tribe of Washington State legally recognized same-sex marriages. The tribe may issue marriage licenses for two unmarried adults regardless of sex or gender, so long as one of the adults is a member of the Suquamish Tribe.
Governor Christine Gregoire signed a law authorizing same-sex marriages on February 13, 2012, but opponents gathered enough signatures to force a voter referendum on the legislation. Voters approved the law in the November election by a margin of 54% to 46%. Same-sex marriages have been recognized by the state since that law took effect on December 6. The law also provided that Washington's registered domestic partnerships convert automatically to marriages on June 30, 2014, if not dissolved before that date.
Federal income tax The Internal Revenue Service ruled in May 2010 that its rules governing communal property income for married couples extend to couples who file taxes in a community property state that recognizes domestic partnerships or same-sex marriages. Couples with registered domestic partnerships in Washington, a community property state, must first combine their annual income and then each must claim half that amount as his or her income for federal tax purposes. However, filing such returns precludes electronic filing, and Washington has no state income tax independently justifying a complex filing. In certain circumstances, the IRS allows affected couples to disregard community property rules. Since April 2011, Washington has recognized same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions as equivalent to its domestic partnerships, with the result that community property rules now apply to these couples as well, when residing in Washington.
Adoption and parenting Washington state law permits a legally competent adult to petition to adopt without respect to marital status. Same-sex couples can adopt jointly and can arrange second-parent adoptions as well.
Lesbian couples are allowed to access in vitro fertilisation. State law recognizes the non-genetic, non-gestational mother as a legal parent to a child born via donor insemination, irrespective of the marital status of the parents. Commercial surrogacy has been legal in Washington since January 1, 2019. Couples, regardless of their gender, marital status or sexual orientation, may undertake surrogacy arrangements.
Previously, the state recognized and enforced custody decrees from other countries in child custody cases–even if those decrees stemmed from foreign laws criminalizing homosexuality. In April 2021, a bill passed the Washington State Legislature (passing the House by a vote of 96–2 and the Senate by 49 votes to 0) to protect families from facing the death penalty in certain foreign jurisdictions on the basis of their religious beliefs, political beliefs or sexual orientation. The legislation allows the state to ignore state law if it would subject parents and children to such foreign laws. Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill into law on April 14.
Discrimination protections
Washington state law currently prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. These protections were added to Washington's Law Against Discrimination (RCW 49.60) in 2006 with Washington House Bill 2661, signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire, a member of the Democratic Party. This bill was considered "long-awaited", as various "gay rights" bills had been proposed since 1977. Cal Anderson proposed a bill extending discrimination protections to LGBTQ people every year he was a legislator, from 1987 until his death in 1995. One of Cal Anderson's sexual orientation anti-discrimination bills passed in the House in 1994, but failed to pass in the Senate by a single vote. Employment discrimination based on sexual orientation in state agencies and higher education institutions was prohibited by executive orders issued by Governor Booth Gardner in 1985 and again in 1991. From June 1, 2027 by a unanimous vote the City of Seattle will explicitly add “relationship status” and “multiple human partnerships” to anti-discrimination policies and procedures - that is also alongside sexual orientation and gender identity provisions.
Moreover, the state's anti-bullying law prohibits bullying on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, honorably discharged veteran or military status, presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or use of a trained dog guide or service animal. The law also explicitly includes cyberbullying and harassment, and applies to all public schools and public charter schools.
On March 7, 2014, Mark Zmuda filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court against Eastside Catholic School and the Archdiocese of Seattle charging illegal termination of his employment as an assistant principal and swimming coach at the school in December 2013 after his same-sex marriage entered into the previous July became known to school officials. The Archdiocese was named as a defendant because it has no direct authority over the school but, according to the complaint, ordered his dismissal.