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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The Impact on Washington’s Budget of
Allowing Same-Sex Couples to Marry

Introduction to the report by M.V. Lee Badgett, PhD
by Demian
© June 17, 2006, Demian


One of the complaints made by those wishing to stop legal marriage, is that it will cost too much, in terms of benefits and the like. This argument supposes that finances are more critical than allowing all citizens to be treated equally and have access to a most critical civil right.

This report shows the likely financial scenario that the state would likely make enormous financial gains, once allowing legal marriage.

The Report’s Key Findings
  • Allowing same-sex couples to marry in Washington will boost the state budget by $3.9 million to $5.7 million annually.
  • Approximately 7,950 of Washington’s same-sex couples will marry in the short term.
  • State expenditures on means-tested public benefits programs will fall.
  • State retail sales tax revenues will rise.
  • Any impact on estate tax revenue will be negligible.
  • Administrative cost increases will be minimal.
  • No increases in court system expenditures are likely to result.
  • Same-sex marriage will have no impact on property tax revenue.
  • The state will experience a minor decrease in real estate excise tax revenue.
  • The state will incur a slight increase in costs for state employee retirement benefits.

This June 2006 report is in PDF format:

        The Impact on Washington’s Budget of Allowing Same-Sex Couples to Marry

   The study is authored by:
        M.V. Lee Badgett, PhD
            The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy
            Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
        R. Bradley Sears, Esq.
            The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy
            UCLA School of Law
        Elizabeth Kukura
            The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy
            UCLA School of Law
        Holning S. Lau, Esq.
            The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy
            UCLA School of Law


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