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Bill Would Extend Gay Partner Law To Straights - by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(San Francisco, California) A law that allows same-sex couples to register as domestic partners in California should be extended to include opposite-sex couples who cannot or chose not to marry a state senator says.

The law already provides for opposite-sex couples where one person is over the age of 62 - a way of enabling senior straight couples of gain some of the same rights as married couples, but without losing pension and Social Security benefits they held as single adults.

Carole Migden (D), the lesbian lawmaker who sponsored the original partner registry in 1999 has introduced legislation to expand the law to cover any straight couples who don't want to marry.

When Migden introduced the original bill nearly a decade ago it was in response top California law that denied same-sex couples the right to marry. The domestic partner law is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the country, offering many of the state rights and obligations of marriage.

It includes inheritance, property and health insurance rights, and provides for relationship dissolution.

Nearly 50,000 couples have registered.

Migden attempted to get proposal passed last year. It passed the Senate but died in committee in the Assembly.

The measure goes before the Senate judiciary committee this week.

The move comes as many same-sex couples in the state are battling to have the right to marry.

A legal challenge to California law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples was heard last week in the state Supreme Court. (story) A ruling is expected within three months.

©365Gay.com 2008

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