Hard evidence of CA Domestic Partnership/Marriage differences

[dubeskin]

I'm trying to convince, like, twenty people right now that there are stark differences, including hospital visitation rights, tax benefits, etc. yet they're using this article about today's ruling.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/438620

First, under California law, there is no material difference between marriage and domestic partnership. Not one of those 18,000 married couples got any new rights or benefits that California's DP did not already provide; they only acquired the term marriage itself. Of course, as a state, California cannot grant any of the federally provided rights and benefits of marriage, but as a matter of state law, the two categories are substantively equal. Indeed, in part, that's why the court held that Prop 8 was an amendment to the CA constitution, and not a broader, more fundamental revision, which would have required more than just an up or down popular vote.

They cite this saying there are no differences. I was under the impression that still there were differences between CA Domestic Partnerships and Marriage.

[AntiFascist]

1. Setting aside the righs issue for a moment...

the California Supreme Court went to great lengths in he CA Marriage Ruling explaining why the designation of marriage is in and of itself very important. Even in today's ruling, they stress "dignity" and "respect" as overriding issues in maintaining "marriage rights". Applying for a domestic partnership is much like obtaining a fishing license over the internet. A marriage license, on the hand, must be solemnized, in person, in order to take effect. The state will even provide the ceremony. Not much respect is shown for those religions, faiths, or inidividuals who choose to honor gay marriages. How hypocritical can the state be in making claims of showing equal dignity and respect?

[NMMNG]

2. There are differences

I don't care how many times people try to claim they're equal, they're not. Separate but Equal, no matter how well intentioned or carefully crafted to seem equivalent, never has been and never will be. Please read this and learn why DP/CU will never be the same as Marriage.

[Creideiki]

3. A few off the top of my head

A) A company that does not offer benefits for DPs does not have to offer those benefits to same-sex (de facto) married couples because they're not de jure married.

B) Portability: Being DP'ed in California makes you a legal stranger in 49 states, all territories and the District of Columbia

C) Negative effect on children of DPs.

D) If someone has DP benefits through their company and then relocate within the same company to a state that does not recognize DPs, the company can arbitrarily terminate benefits.

E) Lack of federal recognition--should they recognize DPs, CUs, or (again, my personal favorite) Designated Beneficiaries? (Note: This assumes the Republicans currently in charge of Congress move legislation forward.)

[MsUnderstood]

4. Domestic Partnerships in CA are Seperate but equal to marriage

When DPs were first introduced the rights granted for DPs were Tiered...one year you got the right to recieve your "spouses" er "Partner's" health insurance, the next year you got the responsibility to file state taxes with your wife. . .oops Partner. (And let me just say from personal experience what a bitch! I had to file individual Federal for both of us, create a "fake" federal as if I was married and use the fake federal to fill out a real state. I lost money at the federal and state level. . .but that is a whole other topic.)

Marriage rights are instantaneous. Once you turn 18 and show that 1) you are not related and 2) the person you want to marry has opposite genitalia at the time of marriage then you are married.

Here are some other "subtle differences:

You go to a DIFFERENT location to register as a domestic partner (versus obtaining a marriage certificate).

Domestic partner registration fees are $33 (10 for the certificate and 23 for a training program on "domestic partner abuse") http://www.sos.ca.gov/dpregistry/forms.htm

Marriage licenses (at least in my county...strangely enough these fees are county based") are $49.

YOU SAVE MONEY IF YOU ARE A DP! And by the way, you can do both! I am officially a DP and Marriage participant in California! I think the supreme court needs to figure out that snafu.

But in all seriousness, what prevents lawmakers or private citizens with the required # of signatures to eliminate a right of DP (say for example the right to adopt). If you separate people into 2 groups who are in essence getting the "same right" what prevents someone from slipping in a law to say that "that group shouldn't be doing that!"