Feb 04, 2005  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) on Jan. 18 introduced a bill to expand the city’s domestic partners law by providing an additional package of benefits and obligations for same-sex couples, including inheritance rights and a requirement to support a partner after a breakup through payments similar to alimony.

The legislation, Bill 16-52, the Domestic Partnership Equality Act of 2005, would provide same-sex and opposite sex couples that register with the District government as domestic partners with another seven benefits or obligations that currently are applicable only to married couples.

Among them are the recognition of domestic partners and their children as legal heirs should a partner die without leaving a will; immunity from testifying against a partner in a civil or criminal case; the obligation to repay a partner’s debts; legal standing to sue for negligence in the event of a wrongful death of a partner; and the right to make the equivalent of legally binding “pre-marital” agreements.

The bill would also allow one partner to assume the power of attorney to manage the other partner’s legal affairs.

In the event of a separation or dissolution of a domestic partnership, the bill establishes the same procedures and requirements for alimony and child support that currently exist under D.C. law for the separation and divorce of married couples. Obligations for alimony and child support are enforceable by the D.C. courts and could result in garnishment of wages or imprisonment if a domestic partner fails to comply, the bill states.

Nine of Mendelson’s colleagues on the 13-member Council have signed on as co-sponsors to the bill, indicating that the measure already has enough votes to pass. Among the co-sponsors are gay Councilmembers David Catania (I-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1).

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who has expressed strong support for expanding the existing domestic partners law, is expected to sign Mendelson’s bill.

Beefing up benefits
Mendelson’s bill marks the fifth time the Council has taken steps to expand the breadth of domestic partner benefits and obligations in the city since 2002, when the original D.C. domestic partners law took effect. The Council passed the original measure, the Health Care Benefits Expansion Act, in 1992. But Congress barred the city from spending any of its funds to implement that statute until 2002, when President Bush and Republican leaders in the House and Senate joined their Democratic colleagues to remove the restriction from the city’s annual appropriations bill.

Local activists, led by the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, have called on the Council to pass a succession of bills that gradually provide domestic partners with the 212 rights and responsibilities conferred by D.C. law on married couples. Williams and a majority of the members of the Council have said they support, in principle, legislation to legalize same-sex civil marriage or civil unions in the District. However, they have said they would not support the introduction of such legislation any time soon out of concern that Congress would step in to overturn the legislation.

“This is a moderate measure to help protect real families in the District,” said GLAA spokesperson Rick Rosendall, in commenting on the Mendelson bill. “These are local issues, and the spirit of Home Rule calls for the District to be able to decide how to protect its residents and their committed relationships,” he said.

Rosendall noted that even with the passage of the Mendelson bill, D.C. would remain far behind other states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, and California, in providing legal protection for same-sex couples.

The Mendelson bill, for example, doesn’t create any new monetary entitlements or obligations for the D.C. government and would not have any cost for the city. Despite requests by some local activists, the bill would not provide retirement or survivor benefits for the domestic partners of D.C. government employees and would not allow domestic partners to file joint income tax returns for their D.C. taxes.

The Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed and President Clinton signed in 1996, bars same-sex couples from receiving any of the more than 1,100 federal rights and obligations that come with marriage. The legislation, known as DOMA, bars same-sex marriage, civil union, or domestic partners laws passed by states or D.C. from going beyond marriage related rights or benefits offered by the states.

DOMA ...