While same-sex couples battle for the right to marry, a lesbian lawmaker is proposing that the state allow heterosexuals to take a step short of going to the altar–registering as domestic partners.
State Sen. Carole Migden, a San Francisco Democrat whose legislation created the state’s domestic partner registry in 1999, has introduced a bill that would allow straight couples over age 18 to become domestic partners.
The measure is scheduled to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It comes as the state Supreme Court weighs whether to strike down California’s prohibitions against gay marriage.
The state’s current domestic partner program covers only same-sex couples and older heterosexual couples who have at least one member who is age 62 or older. There are about 48,000 couples in the registry currently.
Older heterosexual couples were included in the program to enable them to gain some of the same rights as married couples but avoid losing pension and Social Security benefits they held as single adults.
Migden said she also wanted to include younger heterosexuals in the 1999 legislation, but then-Gov. Gray Davis balked.
Her current bill would allow a man and woman to register as domestic partners if they were at least 18, shared a residence and didn’t have a blood relationship such as brother and sister that would prohibit them from marrying.
Registering as domestic partners provides couples with many of the rights of their married counterparts, including access to family health insurance plans, step-parent adoption rights, family leave programs, and hospital and jail visitation rights.
