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Loading ...Only 20 percent of Oregon gay couples register
02.04.2009 11:43am EST
(Portland, Oregon) A year after Oregon established a domestic partner registry, about 2,600 Oregon same-sex couples – about one in five – have registered.
The domestic partner law allows same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples unable to marry to form legally recognized partnerships. It was passed by the legislature in 2007 and went into effect in January 2008.Under the partnership law, couples who register are guaranteed the right to visit partners in hospital and make medical decisions, file joint state tax returns, and have joint health insurance plans or take sick leave to care for their partners.
The law was passed after a legal battle for gay marriage failed.
The issue of same-sex marriage in the state arose in March 2004, when Multnomah County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Soon after, the county was ordered to stop, but not before 3,000 marriage licenses had been granted. The constitutional amendment, known as Measure 36, was passed that November.
In 2005, the state Supreme Court ruled the amendment legal and efforts to enact the domestic partner registry began.
An analysis by The Oregonian newspaper of the couples who have registered shows that about half of the same-sex couples live in Multnomah County and 70 percent are women.
LGBT rights activists say for some couples the partner law may not be practical, others are holding out – hoping the amendment eventually will be overturned and the state will allow them to marry.
I WILL SAY IT AGAIN—IT AINT MARRIAGE, FOLKS !!!!!!!!!! ITS SETTLING FOR SECOND BEST -IF THAT AT ALL. DEMAND THAT RELIGION KEEP ITS NOSE OUT OF YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS AND YOU WONT GET MARRIED IN THEIR CHURCH .THE AMENDMENT IS ILLEGAL-GO AFTER IT PEOPLE IN OREGON-ARENT YOU TIRED OF BEING SECOND CLASS CITIZENS?? SUE THE STATE OVER YOUR VIOLATED CIVIL RIGHTS AS A TAX PAYER AND LAW ABIDING CITIZEN
Gays didn’t rush out to gobble up the table scraps? How ungrateful!:-)
Who wants to register for something that is less then the real thing. Nobody wants to be treated as second class citizens so why would they accept a legal document that does not provide them with the full and equal value that all people enjoy. The gay community has fought and struggled over many centuries to gain the rights of equal marriage, to grant them anything less is just not acceptable or appropriate! They have their loved ones who they have committed themselves to, to look after each other in sickness and in health, to share in the raising and nurturing of their children in a loving and safe environment: if this is not a marriage, then what is? And before these religious bigots, who by the way claim to be such good Christian people, deny civil rights and claim our unions are a sham, best look at their own unions.
I’m in Oregon, and I haven’t registered? Why? Well mainly because my girlfriend doesn’t believe in any pieces of paper (ie even when we can legally get married it is unlikely we will). But also because we don’t have children (I’m sure I can convince her otherwise when we do). And because I work for the federal government so all the health care benefits still don’t do me any good (as we won’t be recognized federally).
Oh yeah and I don’t live in Portland, I live on the more conservative side of the state, so yeah I’d be a bit concerned about my well being once I registered because that information can be looked up.
Plus “registering” sounds like something you do with your dog to get his license, like I have to prove I’ve gotten my rabies shot…
Even though Domestic Partnership is way less than second best, I would register if I lived in Oregon. It would be my way of saying “hey I here”. That is why I was sure to get married in Ca. 18,000 marriages is a lot of people and half of the stable couples I know did not get married for various reasons. One had already shelled out the big bucks for simular legal protection. We did not have the money for a big deal so we just went to the court house..
Tom in Long Beach
Correction: Oregon domestic partnerships are not available to opposite-sex couples. There have been a few of us (mostly bisexuals and queerspawn) who have been fighting for the inclusion of all people regardless of gender within domestic partnerships since two years before the legislation passed.
I’m a lawyer, gay and live in Oregon. One correction to what is a common misperception. While the domestic partnership law does not permit marriages, it does explicitly grant domestic partners every right, benefit, responsibility and privilege that would otherwise be available to a married couple. It’s marriage except in name. It goes far beyond the typical domestic partner laws found in many states. Anything and everything that married people get under Oregon law, we get, just without the name. While that makes me chafe a bit too, those in the gay community wanting the rights and responsibilities of marriage in Oregon have that now under this law. It’s marriage without the name.
I will tell you folks, I live in New York. Last Spring, Gov. Paterson announced equality for same sex couples legally married elsewhere, including Canada. My partner and I had been together 20 years, and never made a move to do anything about “legalizing” our relationship. I work for the State Of New York. As my employer, the State promised equal benefits under Gov. Paterson’s decree. We were excited. We went to Canada and got legally married on our 20th “anniversary” in July.
Sad to say, NOTHING has changed that we can see. I can’t insure my husband under my health insurance with my son like anyone else’s family…..I have to insure him on my health insurance as a domestic partner, AND, I have to pay two different sets of taxes on his portion of the health insurance plan.. Then, they ADD in excess of 4,000 dollars per year in “IMPUTED” income (unearned income) that I have to declare, as federal tax codes say he “benefits” from being on my health insurance plan, and it’s a “gift” from the State Of New York to be on my health insurance. This is exactly how Domestic Partner benefits work too…. This IMPUTED income is Additional money that I have to pay income tax on, just because the federal tax code won’t recognize same sex couples as a family like “traditional” (straight) couples/families.
It certainly doesn’t seem fair, or equal to me, or my family. Anyone know a good lawyer?
I’m all for civil unions. I wish AR had civil unions but my state rejected same-sex marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples. http://www.beyondmarriage.org
I’m over same-sex marriage. Civil unions for ALL!
THAT IS DISCUSTING!!!!!!