Archive Version of
Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples
Online from 1995-2022

Demian and Steve Bryant originally founded Partners as a monthly newsletter in 1986. By late 1990 it was reformatted into a bi-monthly magazine. Print publication was halted by 1995 when Demian published Partners as a Web site, which greatly expanded readership.

In 1988, the Partners National Survey of Lesbian & Gay Couples report was published; the first major U.S. survey on same-sex couples in a decade.

In 1996, Demian produced The Right to Marry, a video documentary based on the dire need for equality that was made clear by the data from the survey mentioned above. The video featured interviews with Rev. Mel White, Evan Wolfson, Phyllis Burke, Richard Mohr, Kevin Cathcart, Faygele benMiriam, Benjamin Cable-McCarthy, Susan Reardon, Frances Fuchs, Tina Podlodowski, and Chelle Mileur.

Demian has been the sole operator during the last two decades of Partners.

Demian stopped work on Partners Task Force in order to realize his other time-consuming projects, which include publishing the book “Operating Manual for Same-Sex Couples: Navigating the rules, rites & rights” - which is now available on Amazon. The book is based on the Partners Survey mentioned above, his interviews of scores of couples, and 36 years of writing hundreds of articles about same-sex couples. It’s also been informed by his personal experience in a 20-year, same-sex relationship.

Demian’s other project is to publish his “Photo Stories by Demian” books based on his more than six decades as a photographer and writer.


Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples
Demian, director    206-935-1206    demian@buddybuddy.com    Seattle, WA    Founded 1986

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Sample Domestic Partnership Affidavit I
A simple form
© 2001, Demian

The following affidavit provides a simple definition of “domestic partner” for benefits purposes. It defines as little as possible, so that a couple would not compromise other relationship documents that define their financial or living-together agreements.

Occasionally an employer will ask an employee to obtain a domestic partnership “registration” as a means of gaining benefits. This can be challenging because most registrations are only available if you are residing in a county, city, or in one of the few states that offers such status. And while you may be able to obtain a registration — usually costing about $35 — they offer few benefits of their own, and have no legal effect outside their own jurisdiction.

There is no universal template for registrations or benefits affidavits, as there is with legal marriage. Whenever a government or private employer chooses to create a definition of family for benefits purposes — which becomes embodied in an affidavit — they often use different definitions. This sort of chaos is yet another result of denying legal marriage to same-sex couples.

Just as most employers never ask to see a marriage license, we think all that should be required is for a couple to declare themselves a family. It really is not the domain of business to make such definitions.

Declaration of Domestic Partnership

We certify and declare that we are in a domestic partner relationship, and that we are each other’s sole domestic partner. We are engaged in a committed relationship, and we are:

  1. At least 18, and mentally competent to consent to a civil contract; and
  2. Not acting under force or duress; and
  3. Not married to, or legally separated from, any other person, and
  4. Not in another domestic partnership.
We affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the statements in this Declaration are true and correct.

Employee: _______________________________ Date: ________

Printed name: ____________________________ Birth date: ________

Address: ____________________________________________


Domestic partner: _______________________________ Date: ________

Printed name: ____________________________ Birth date: ________

Address: ____________________________________________


Declaration of Termination of Domestic Partnership

I certify and declare that I am no longer in a domestic partner relationship.

I affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the above statement is true and correct.

Employee: ________________________________ Date: ________

Printed name: _________________________

© 2001, Demian
Also see:
Sample Domestic Partnership Affidavit II — a complex form
Anatomy of a Domestic Partnership Affidavit

Return to: Domestic Partnership Benefits
Return to: Partners: Table of Contents

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