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The movement toward domestic partnership benefits in the workplace is rooted in the egalitarian principal that equal work warrants equal pay, including employment benefits. For many employees, those benefits can amount to more than 25 percent of their total compensation. So when employers extend benefits to employees with opposite-sex spouses, the same benefits should go to employees with a same-sex partner. Domestic partner benefits owes its existence to the fact that America is the only industrialized nation in the the world that does not have universal health care, and the fact that same-sex couples have been forbidden legal marriage. Domestic partner benefits are a stop-gap measure. The first private business to offer benefits was the Village Voice Newspaper in 1982. The first Canadian Province was Quebec in 1982. And the first municipality in the U.S. was Berkeley, California in 1984. When domestic partnership benefits were first offered, many only included same-sex couples. That has changed significantly. The majority of plans these days are offered to both same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples, which is, again, a matter of fairness. A virtual wave of domestic partner benefits had been instigated by San Francisco. In May 1997, the city and county of San Francisco required all businesses contracting with them to offer benefits to same-sex partners, if they offered them to married couples. This has created not only benefits within hundreds of companies, but awakened insurance businesses, which have been slow to respond to carry out the benefits. The San Francisco model has been replicated in Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland, Seattle, and Tumwater (Washington). Since the very first domestic partner benefits were offered by Berkely, California, in 1984, the radical right has been very busy with lawsuits in the public sector — and with boycotts in the private sector — in order to destroy any benefits for same-sex couples and their children. Before November 2004, four states had anti-marriage constitutions, which had been used to legally argue against recognizing any non-marriage status, such as job benefits and Civil Unions for same-sex couples. The November 2004 election brought 11 more anti-marriage state constitutional amendments. Nine of the new amendments specifically include anti-domestic partner language. [Please see our article: Legislative Reactions to Suits for Same-Sex Marriage]
In those states that have anti-marriage amendments, either directly, or by implication, any Civil Union or partnership status, such as workplace benefits, could easily be legally challenged.
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These documents offered by cities, counties, and a few states — for a fee of about $35 — rarely carry any legal weight. It was once thought that registrations would encourage private businesses to offer benefits. It does not, however, appear to have been the instigating agent. [See Requesting Benefits: How to Go About Getting Them.] There are hundreds of laws that reference the status of legal marriage. Registrations trigger very few benefits, if any, in the ordinances of the issuing jurisdiction. Outside of that jurisdiction, they are legally entirely worthless. The most a registration generally does is to allow you access if your partner is in prison or in a hospital. Usually they don’t even allow you to make medical decisions, should your partner be incapacitated. To find out if there are any benefits whatever, you need to contact the issuing license department and inquire. It is possible that a registration could be used against you to take away government subsidies or benefits, should an agency claim the registration makes you responsible for your partner’s welfare. It could also potentially be used against you if your were to break up. A suit from a former partner or former partner’s debtors could claim you responsible for medical bills, for instance.
Sometimes same-sex couples so desire recognition that they will sign a domestic partner registration form just “to get close to legal marriage.” However, domestic partnership registrations are nothing whatever like legal marriage. And unlike legal marriage, they have such little history that their legal status is uncertain.
Besides workplace benefits, some businesses offer discounts to household members once restricted only to a “spouse.” The AAA Motor Clubs in a few states offer a second membership at reduced fees. [See How the AAA Motor Club of Washington Came to Offer Second Member Discounts to Domestic Partners.] Avis Rent-A-Car does not charge a “second driver” fee for unmarried partners who declare they are a couple. There are also steps cities have taken to protect domestic partners. For example, Washington, D.C., requires certain businesses to provide employees unpaid leave to care for sick family members, including domestic partners. The district’s law also gives tax breaks to businesses that provide health insurance to the domestic partners of employees. While New Mexico has no registration process, their statewide law appears to allow a domestic partner to have hospital entry and medical decision-making ability (Uniform Health Care Decisions Act (1995) Section 5, Paragraph B). As a back-up, lawyers there still recommend medical power of attorney for all unmarried couples. Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin.; Seattle, Washington; and other cities allow domestic partners a family discount for user fees at various city facilities. In August 1994, the Swiss Federated Railways (Switzerland) announced reduced fares, and spouse passes for same-sex partners who live together.
Other forms of domestic partner recognition goes beyond the workplace or minor public accommodations. For example, New York State covers domestic partners under family rent control law, and Oakland, California, has eliminated a property transfer tax for domestic partners.
While domestic partnership benefits are a worthy goal, they don’t assure full equality in the workplace. Also, they don’t begin to address the many other aspects of inequality — child custody, hospital visitation, inheritance, immigration, etc. — that would be addressed by legal same-sex marriage. In fact, same-sex marriage legislation could in one stroke automatically assign to gay and lesbian couples not only workplace benefits, but all the equal rights and responsibilities guaranteed under all the state constitutions. To be worth the considerable labors we expend in order to gain benefits, we need to get more than the meager cash, insurance or minor social recognition. Having tracked domestic partnership benefits since 1987 — and maintaining a extensive list — we find the results of these plans to be disappointing. While some partners or children are able to get insurance otherwise unavailable, the reality for most couples is that the benefits are limited and could have negative tax consequences. Plus, many couples both work and have their own benefit plans. Since Berkely, domestic partner benefits have proved to be fragile. Some have been taken away by cost-cutting or right-wing corporate boards. Many municipalities have been sued by radical right-wing organizations — such Pat Robertson’s Virginia-based American Center for Law and Justice — in mean-spirited attempts to destroy benefits.
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