Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Seperate is NOT EQUAL

"Same-sex couples retain all of the fundamental substantive components encompassed within the constitutional rights of privacy and due process, with the sole (albeit significant) exception of the right to equal access to the designation “marriage,” a term that — for purposes of the California Constitution as it now reads — the people have decreed is to be reserved for an official union between a man and a woman. Although Proposition 8 does diminish the rights of same-sex couples under article I, section 1 in this one respect, it does not have the sweeping constitutional effect suggested by the Attorney General’s argument." -- GEORGE, C.J. Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court



Domestic Partnership is not the same as Marriage with a different name.
(from wikipedia)


Domestic PartnershipsMarriages
Can file without being required to share a residence?NOYES
Available to minors with parental consent?NOYES
Can be filed without witnesses and not included in public record?NOYES
Partners of state employees eligible for the CalPERS long-term care insurance plan?NOYES
"Putative Spouse Doctrine" ?NOYES

4 comments:

Zathris said...

Good post. Thanks for the checklist, been looking for that for some time.

Zathris said...

I'd like to add, recognition of DP's outside of the granting jurisdiction is weaker if not nill in many cases. I recall a story of a couple who met with misfortune and wound up in a hospital outside the U.S. Since the familial relation wasn't recognized and no one else was there, no medical decisions could be made.

Anonymous said...

You also might want to mention:

Domestic partners are not considered "Next-Of-Kin" and should an emergency happen with one of the partners, a hostile family can legally deny the other partner access at the hospital or funeral. Unfortunately, it happens rather frequently in such cases.

Jopsy said...

I went a-googling, trying to see if California 'recognizes' out of state same-sex marriages that have happened since Prop 8. (as New York does)

If the 18,000 grandfathered marriages are recognized as legal, so too should be marriages that occurred since where they were legal.

I haven't find confirmation or denial of it yet though..