Domestic Partner Task Force
Encyclopedia
The Domestic Partner Task Force was a governmental body established in 1983 by the California
n City of Berkeley
's Human Relations and Welfare Commission to draw up the structure of the city's (and, eventually, the state's) domestic partnership program. Leland Traiman, then the Vice-Chair of the HRWC and a gay rights activist, was appointed as leader of the Task Force.
Working with gay rights activist Tom Brougham
, members of the East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club, and attorney Matt Coles, the Domestic Partner Task Force drafted what has become the template for domestic partner/civil union policies around the world. Brougham is credited with coining the term "domestic partnership" to refer to a non-marriage union between two partners.
Two letters by written by Brougham to a colleague and dated August 21, 1979 set the basis for his future endeavors. In the first, he addressed
the issue of marriage as the sole vehicle for the claiming of benefits by government employees for their spouses and partners, and in the second, he proposed that Berkeley could solve its dilemma by enacting what he called "domestic partnerships" in order to allow same-sex couples employee benefits which were separate from marriage:
Brougham and Warren, the latter of whom was an employee of University of California, Berkeley
, brought their proposals to the City of Berkeley and the University of California.
, a gay man appointed to replace Harvey Milk
. Britt was in attendance at a presentation by Brougham and Warren to a meeting of California gay student unions, and was inspired by the idea. Britt's version was adopted and passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, but Dianne Feinstein
, mayor of San Francisco at the time, came under intense pressure from the Catholic Church and vetoed the bill in 1983.
This became a source of animosity within the LGBT community in San Francisco, and hundreds signed the White Panthers
' recall petition against Feinstein, putting her mayoralty to a recall election
. Feinstein won with 70%, but the anger felt by the defeat of Britt's proposal led to the establishment of the EBG/LDC and increased LGBT political activism in the city.
In 1982, the term "domestic partner" was first used in a lawsuit filed by San Francisco Human Rights Commission employee Larry Brinkin. Brinkin, then an employee of Southern Pacific Railway, had recently suffered the loss of his partner of eleven years. When he was denied the three days of paid bereavement leave given to married employees, he filed suit with the assistance of the ACLU. Mr. Brinkin lost his case. Despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary, the judge agreed with his employer’s claim that there was no way to know if his relationship was legitimate.
In November 1984, all the city council members up for election who had voted against the policy lost reelection. Progressives from the Berkeley Citizens' Action (BCA) slate who replaced them had voiced strong support for a domestic partner policy. The East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club had worked hard to elect the BCA Slate. This was the first time domestic partners was a campaign issue. At the first meeting of the new City Council in December 1984, the Berkeley City Council enacted a policy extending employee benefits to unmarried couples of any gender
. The first couple to file for benefits under Berkeley's sex-neutral policy were Brougham and his partner Barry Warren.
, city council member John Heilman
successfully introduced domestic partner legislation for city residents and employees that was passed by the city council and created the first domestic partnership registry. West Hollywood, which has a large LGBT population and heavily-Democratic political orientation, had incorporated in December of the prior year.
In 1989, San Francisco became the second polity to a domestic partnership registry law. However, voters repealed the domestic partnership law by initiative
; a modified version was reinstated by another voter initiative, 1990's Proposition K, also written by Britt.
Currently, the city still offers a domestic partnership status separate and differing in benefits from that offered by the state; city residents can apply for both.
In June 1991, Berkeley became the third polity in the state to create a domestic partnership registry. On October 11 of that year, 28 lesbian and gay male couples and one heterosexual couple registered their partnerships. The registry and benefits were also extended to non-resident couples that same year.
From that point on, municipal legislative efforts to create domestic partnership registries for same- and opposite-sex couples increased, with the following polities following suit:
on September 26, 1999, creating a statewide registry for same- and opposite-sex couples.
became the first major corporation in the United States to offer such benefits to employees.
Also in 1992, Stanford and the University of Chicago both offered domestic partnership benefits to staff, faculty and students.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
n City of Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
's Human Relations and Welfare Commission to draw up the structure of the city's (and, eventually, the state's) domestic partnership program. Leland Traiman, then the Vice-Chair of the HRWC and a gay rights activist, was appointed as leader of the Task Force.
Working with gay rights activist Tom Brougham
Tom Brougham
Tom Brougham is a Berkeley, California gay rights activist who was the first to suggest a new legal category for recognizing couples other than marriage and he coined the phrase domestic partnership.Brougham is a former member of the Gay Liberation Front....
, members of the East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club, and attorney Matt Coles, the Domestic Partner Task Force drafted what has become the template for domestic partner/civil union policies around the world. Brougham is credited with coining the term "domestic partnership" to refer to a non-marriage union between two partners.
Prior to 1984
According to Traiman, Brougham's idea was conceived when, as an employee of the City of Berkeley in 1979, he realized that he could not sign his life partner, Barry Warren, for health and dental benefits because they were available only to the married spouses of city employees. The prior year, Berkeley became the first municipality to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance which included sexual orientation as a protected class, offering Brougham a potential legal basis for gaining the benefits for his partner.Two letters by written by Brougham to a colleague and dated August 21, 1979 set the basis for his future endeavors. In the first, he addressed
the issue of marriage as the sole vehicle for the claiming of benefits by government employees for their spouses and partners, and in the second, he proposed that Berkeley could solve its dilemma by enacting what he called "domestic partnerships" in order to allow same-sex couples employee benefits which were separate from marriage:
Brougham and Warren, the latter of whom was an employee of University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, brought their proposals to the City of Berkeley and the University of California.
Early legislative history in San Francisco
In 1982, Brougham's definition was modified by San Francisco Supervisor Harry BrittHarry Britt
Harry Britt is a political activist and former Supervisor for San Francisco, California. Britt was involved during the late 1960s in the civil rights movement when he was a Methodist minister in Chicago...
, a gay man appointed to replace Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
. Britt was in attendance at a presentation by Brougham and Warren to a meeting of California gay student unions, and was inspired by the idea. Britt's version was adopted and passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, but Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....
, mayor of San Francisco at the time, came under intense pressure from the Catholic Church and vetoed the bill in 1983.
This became a source of animosity within the LGBT community in San Francisco, and hundreds signed the White Panthers
White Panther Party
The White Panthers were a far-left, anti-racist, White American political collective founded in 1968 by Lawrence Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was asked what white people could do...
' recall petition against Feinstein, putting her mayoralty to a recall election
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
. Feinstein won with 70%, but the anger felt by the defeat of Britt's proposal led to the establishment of the EBG/LDC and increased LGBT political activism in the city.
In 1982, the term "domestic partner" was first used in a lawsuit filed by San Francisco Human Rights Commission employee Larry Brinkin. Brinkin, then an employee of Southern Pacific Railway, had recently suffered the loss of his partner of eleven years. When he was denied the three days of paid bereavement leave given to married employees, he filed suit with the assistance of the ACLU. Mr. Brinkin lost his case. Despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary, the judge agreed with his employer’s claim that there was no way to know if his relationship was legitimate.
Early legislative history in Berkeley
The HRWC held a public hearing early in 1984 on "Examining the Use of Marriage to Determine Benefits and Liabilities in Berkeley and the Alternatives." The DPTF's policy, as co-authored by Brougham, Treiman and others on the Task Force, was adopted by the Commission and presented to the City Council. A copy was sent to the Berkeley School Board. In July 1984 the City Council voted down the proposal citing financial concerns. On August 1, 1984, the Berkeley School Board enacted the policy by a 4 to 1 vote. The school board motion was made by Ethel Manheimer, a disabled lesbian.In November 1984, all the city council members up for election who had voted against the policy lost reelection. Progressives from the Berkeley Citizens' Action (BCA) slate who replaced them had voiced strong support for a domestic partner policy. The East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club had worked hard to elect the BCA Slate. This was the first time domestic partners was a campaign issue. At the first meeting of the new City Council in December 1984, the Berkeley City Council enacted a policy extending employee benefits to unmarried couples of any gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
. The first couple to file for benefits under Berkeley's sex-neutral policy were Brougham and his partner Barry Warren.
Dmomestic partnership registries
In June 1985 in West HollywoodWest Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
, city council member John Heilman
John Heilman
John Heilman is an American municipal politician and frequent mayor of West Hollywood, California.A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Heilman moved to Southern California to attend the University of Southern California Law School....
successfully introduced domestic partner legislation for city residents and employees that was passed by the city council and created the first domestic partnership registry. West Hollywood, which has a large LGBT population and heavily-Democratic political orientation, had incorporated in December of the prior year.
In 1989, San Francisco became the second polity to a domestic partnership registry law. However, voters repealed the domestic partnership law by initiative
Initiative
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...
; a modified version was reinstated by another voter initiative, 1990's Proposition K, also written by Britt.
Currently, the city still offers a domestic partnership status separate and differing in benefits from that offered by the state; city residents can apply for both.
In June 1991, Berkeley became the third polity in the state to create a domestic partnership registry. On October 11 of that year, 28 lesbian and gay male couples and one heterosexual couple registered their partnerships. The registry and benefits were also extended to non-resident couples that same year.
From that point on, municipal legislative efforts to create domestic partnership registries for same- and opposite-sex couples increased, with the following polities following suit:
- City of Laguna BeachLaguna Beach, CaliforniaLaguna Beach is a seaside resort city and artist community located in southern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southwest of the county seat of Santa Ana...
(April 1992) - City of SacramentoSacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
(October 1992) - Marin CountyMarin County, CaliforniaMarin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
(May 1993) - City of DavisDavis, CaliforniaDavis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
(May 1994) - Santa Monica (September 1995)
- Palo AltoPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
(January 1996) - OaklandOakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
(June 1996) - City of Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
(June 1997) - Cathedral CityCathedral City, CaliforniaCathedral City is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 51,200 at the 2010 census. Sandwiched between Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, it is one of the cities in the Coachella Valley of southern California...
(September 1997) - ArcataArcata, California-Demographics:-2010 Census data:The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was 1,567.4 people per square mile...
(August 1998) - City of Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(May 1999) - Santa Barbara CountySanta Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
(June 1999) - Petaluma, CaliforniaPetaluma, CaliforniaPetaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...
(June 1999) - City of Long BeachLong Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
(1999) - Palm SpringsPalm Springs, CaliforniaPalm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
(2000)
Domestic partnerships statewide
Domestic partnerships were signed into law by Gray DavisGray Davis
Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who served as California's 37th Governor from 1999 until being recalled in 2003...
on September 26, 1999, creating a statewide registry for same- and opposite-sex couples.
Domestic partnership benefits by non-governmental bodies
After San Francisco and Berkeley had passed their domestic partnership registry laws, American companies also began to offer corporate benefits to LGBT employees, including domestic partnership benefits. In 1992, Lotus SoftwareLotus Software
Lotus Software is a software company with headquarters in Westford, Massachusetts...
became the first major corporation in the United States to offer such benefits to employees.
Also in 1992, Stanford and the University of Chicago both offered domestic partnership benefits to staff, faculty and students.