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Legal Issues in the Domestic Partnership case
On August 9, 1999, the Gainesville City Commission voted to provide health insurance benefits for qualified domestic partners of employees under that City's Health Plan. The Plaintiff argues that extending such health benefits to couples outside of wedlock is forbidden under the Defense of Marriage Act, enacted by the Florida Legislature two years ago.
Many cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, the District of Columbia and Minneapolis, have created "domestic partnership" registries, which give official status to domestic partnerships that are registered with the city. Scores of governmental units, including the state of Hawaii recognize the domestic partnerships of their employees. Many private companies also provide domestic partnership benefits.
While these laws do not confer most of the rights and responsibilities of marriage, they generally grant partners some of the recognition accorded to married couples — typically, the right to visit a sick or dying partner in a hospital, sometimes sick and bereavement leave and, in a few cases, health insurance and other benefits.
Perhaps as important, these policies give some small acknowledgment to the intimate, committed relationships central to the lives of so many tax-paying men and women - among them, lesbians and gay men.
