WASHINGTON (CNN) Washington state is getting ready to take the next step toward allowing same-sex marriage.

Governor Chris Gregoire announced plans to introduce the historic legislation earlier this week.

She had previously opposed giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry... but says now, it's the right thing to do.

"You know, I really had to sort out my faith and my responsibility as both a pre-term attorney general and now as governor... and I came to the understanding that I could honor and respect the freedom of religion of all faiths in Washington state to decide who they want to marry, but that I could not allow the state to continue to discriminate," says Gregoire.

Gregoire is in the final year of her second term and has said that she will not run for a third.

If the legislation is approved, Washington state would become the seventh state to recognize same-sex marriage.

Religious groups plan to fight the bill's approval