Starting June 3rd, the City Clerk's office will begin performing marriage-like services for couples registering for a Domestic Partnership—about 30% of whom are gay. Up until now, any couple applying for a Domestic Partnership would just receive a piece of paper signifying their commitment. City Clerk Michael McSweeney told the Daily News, "We thought it was a good idea."
The idea originally came from some Fordham Law students who were working with the City Council's legal division last year, and the suggestion gained support from pols and gay-rights activists. Joseph Hagelmann, president of the Stonewall Democratic Club, said, "Sounds like a small step in the right direction. But we're not going to be happy until we have full marriage equality." Domestic Partnerships don't offer benefits like inheritances or confidentiality privileges that marriages do, but if one partner is a city employee the other can be eligible for the same health insurance. Partners are also granted hospital visitation rights.
The clerk's office first introduced Domestic Partnership registration in 1993, to recognize "the diversity of family configurations, including lesbian, gay, and other non-traditional couples." They've had about 50,000 registrations since then.
