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Loading ...Nevada office to take partnership applications
08.19.2009 10:30am EDT
(Carson City, Nev.) The Nevada secretary of state’s office will take applications starting next week from couples who wish to register as domestic partners.
Same- and opposite-sex couples who apply soon will receive their certificates of domestic partnership on Oct. 1.That’s the day a new state law goes into effect extending rights similar to those held by married couples to cohabitating couples, whether gay or straight, who register with the secretary of state’s office.
Applications will be accepted at Secretary of State Ross Miller’s office starting Monday. There is a $50 fee, and the applications must be notarized.
The Nevada domestic partnership law does NOT include health insurance and is only limited. In Nevada, married couples get 444 rights, but under the new domestic partnership law couples who register as DPs will only get about 110 rights.
It is a good start that both opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples over 18 can register, but us gays are not equal until we can get civil married.
I always use the term “civil marriage” because so people can tell the difference between “civil” and “religious” marriages.
I would assume Nevada is relatively conservative, filled with a lot of people who favor gun rights, states rights etc.
But, though it barely passed and I think they overode the gov’s veto, it just shows how things are changing.
Unfortunately, the closer you get to the word “marriage” the more you stir up the good religious people who realize gay people deserve the same rights, but can’t quite stomach that word combined with the word gay.
It is going to take time. To change people’s attitudes. This is a step in the right direction.
But step by step, goodness and grace will prevail.
And the bigot churches, who fear only that they will be exposed as such, will ultimately either change, split, or become footnotes in history. Ugly history.
Eg in the Northeast, the Catholic church (be carefull here, the people are far more accepting then the hierarchy) is, to quote a news article “fading fast”.
Perhaps the current pope’s (absolutely the last person who should have been selected) gravestone will ultimately have two names.
His own, and his church’s. It would be poetic justice.
I blogged about this the other day, because this is a great step for the LGBT community here in Nevada… we’re shooting for full on marriage equality, but this is a step that our state needed to take.
I can only hope that other states follow our example and start on the road towards equality.