As we begin another year of struggle for freedom and equity, it is important to reflect on our community's achievements, the successes of 2006 and the challenges of the coming year.
Last year, the governor signed legislation allowing domestic partners to file joint tax returns (Migden) and have their income treated as community property. We also expanded protections for LGBT seniors (Leno), and guarded against discrimination in housing (Laird) and in the courts (Lieber). But there also were huge disappointments: the governor vetoed AB849 (same-sex marriage) and last week, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to move ahead with attempting to place on the ballot in 2008 an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, which has been legal in that state since 2004.
Every year, we engage in big and small efforts to pave the road to equity. Ten years ago, domestic partnership was merely a concept; today, it affords almost every legal state right currently available to married couples. In the new year, we will continue to fight for legislation to legalize same-sex marriage even as our city attorney challenges the attorney general in the California Supreme Court.
The importance of marriage was summed up in Justice J. Anthony Kline's dissent in the California marriage case decision issued last October by the state Court of Appeal. "In the eyes of the law and of much of society, our commitment and our union, to each other and to our families, is not legitimate and not real [without marriage]," one declaration in the case stated. One of the declarations by one of the couples in the case noted that when she and her partner registered, "We did not receive gifts or gift certificates or bottles of wine. É There is something about the institution of marriage that is not only about the benefits that you get and the tax breaks that you get because you're married, but there's a homage, almost, that is paid by the rest of society because you are spouses."
While we battle for marriage equality, I have authored SB11 to address the inconsistency between the state domestic partnership law and similar ordinances in San Francisco and 17 other California cities. These local ordinances, like the original domestic partnership law I carried in 1996, allow all couples, gay and straight, to register as domestic partners. But the state law was changed to only allow same-sex couples and heterosexual couples over the age of 62 to register.
In December, Newsweek magazine reported nearly four in 10 babies in the United States were born to unmarried women, at least half of whom are believed to be living with men. Some estimates show that one-quarter of unmarried women in the U.S. aged 25 to 39 are living with a partner. Nicky Grist, the executive director of the Alternatives to Marriage Project, estimates that 745,000 unmarried couples are living together in California alone.
"Marriage is still alive and well, but it has a lot of competition," Wellesley College sociologist Rosanna Hertz told Newsweek .
All of us seek freedom of choice, and that choice should know no difference between straight or gay couples. To quote the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, "Much of the richness of a relationship will come from the freedom an individual has to choose the form and nature of these intensely personal bonds."
SB11 is a step toward giving all couples who express commitment the right to validate their relationship civilly, either by marriage or domestic partnership. It is not a competitor to the same-sex marriage bill, nor does it undermine the importance of marriage. I have received robust support from the LGBT community for this bill and the concept of freedom of choice for all. Allowing couples who choose to register the ability to do so strengthens families and reinforces the bonds of commitment – perhaps even leading to marriage down the road.
As a state senator, it is my job to be responsive to the emerging needs of constituents and the social realities of today's California families. Expanding domestic partnership eligibility to 700,000 couples will mean an estimated 500,000 children will have access to health benefits, inheritance, and other rights now denied.
Expansion of the state's domestic partnership registry is a natural extension in our fight for equality and the right to marry. We know all relationships, however we choose to define them, will be stronger and more enduring if everyone – gay and straight – has the same opportunity to make these vital decisions.
As support for an equitable world increases each year, we can work together to ensure that 2007 will provide equality for all committed couples.
State Senator Carole Migden (D) represents the 3rd Senate District, which includes portions of San Francisco, Marin, and Sonoma counties.