Supporters of Referendum 71 Vanessa Carr, right, and Pete-e Petersen cheer with others at an election night party , Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington is the first state to have its voters approve a gay equality measure at the ballot box.

With 72 percent of the votes counted Thursday, support for Referendum 71 is leading 52 to 48 percent–a margin of 60,000 votes.

“Our state made history today,” said Anne Levinson, chairwoman of Washington Families Standing Together. “This is a day for which we can all look back with pride.”

Referendum 71 expands the state’s existing domestic partnership registry to include rights limited to only married couples before.

Back in May, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill expanding domestic partnership rights, and would’ve taken effect in late July but enough signatures were gathered by conservative groups to hold the law and let voters decide whether it be passed or not. Now that the bill is passed, the law will take effect Dec. 3.

More than 12,000 couples are registered as domestic partners, most of which are gay. The state also allows heterosexual couples over the age of 62 to register as domestic partnerships so they don’t lose certain pensions or social security benefits.

To read more about this story, visit The Associated Press.

- Simon Husted

Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) signed the "Everything But Marriage" bill in May. The bill now awaits approval from Washington voters.

Votes are still being counted, but a measure that extends the domestic partnership registry to include all the rights offered to married couples is showing signs of passing in Washington state.

Wednesday’s latest count shows support for Referendum 71.  If passed, it will uphold the new rights given to domestic partners.  Referendum 71 is leading with 52.8 percent (555,782 votes) versus 48.2 percent (516,834 votes). Tuesday, R71 was leading only 51 to 49 percent.

In May, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington signed a bill that would give same-sex couples filed in the state’s existing domestic partnership registry the same rights as married couples. The bill was dubbed the “Everything But Marriage” bill. Shortly after, conservative interest groups collected enough signatures to place the bill on the November ballot box, in hopes that voters will overturn it.

In 2007, a domestic partnership registry was adopted by the state with a few laws, including organ donation and hospital visitation rights.  About 6,000 domestic partnerships have been registered since then.

To read more about this story, visit seattlepi.com.

- Simon Husted

Larry Davis, right, and Lee Cagley broke out in tears yesterday when they received their domestic partnership certificate. (AP Photo/Sandra Chereb)

Same-sex couples in Nevada yesterday received similar legal rights that married couples enjoy.

In Nevada’s capital, Carson City, Secretary of State Ross Miller issued domestic partnership certificates.

The first couple to receive a certificate —Lee Cagley and Larry Davis — broke out in tears.

“This gives us the legal rights to act for each others benefit,” Davis said.

The benefits afforded to couples with a domestic partnership certificate include: community property, next to kin, seeking finnancial support after a break-up, etc.

The law was passed in May when lawmakers overrode Gov. Jim Gibbon’s veto. Registration for certificates is ongoing. Couples who received their certificates yesterday registered between Aug. 24 and Sept. 24. Currently, 750 couples have registered for domestic partnerships.

To read more about this story, visit the Associated Press.

— Simon Husted

The law was originally vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons but had a legislative override in May allowing domestic partners. Nevada will start to issue about 700 certificates on the first day of registry on Oct. 1, On Top magazine told Advocate.com.  The certificate does not grant marriage to couples but does give limited rights.

Nevada receives domestic partner certification law today, despite Gov. Jim Gibbons vetoing the law earlier this year. Photo courtesy of Advocate.com

Estate planning and hospital visitation benefits are included in this law. However, there are no benefits such as health care.

Couples had to file their Oct. 1 certification registration between Aug. 24 and Sept. 24, according to Nevada secretary of state’s Web site.

The same law was passed in Wisconsin in August after a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment banning all same-sex marriage. Both Nevada and Wisconsin critics say the domestic registration law is a violation of existing state laws against marriage equality.

Read the full story here.

— Kim Brown

Other than passing a Domestic Partnership Registry earlier this year, Wisconsin is also known for being the first state to pass protections against housing and employment discrimination under the basis of sexual orientation.

A battle is ensuing over the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s Domestic Partner Registry, which Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law June 29.

Gay rights groups Fair Wisconsin and Lambda Legal are urging the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reject the challenge. Meanwhile, social conservative groups Alliance Defense Fund and Wisconsin Family Action, are leading the challenge. The ADF and WFA argue the registry conflicts with the state constitution that bans same-sex marriage.

“The suggestion in this lawsuit that this is substantially similar to marriage is, in our view, simply not credible,” Christopher Clark, senior staff attorney with Lambda Legal, said,

The law gives registered couples 43 rights, most dealing with estate planning and hospital visitation. According to the Department of Health, 970 couples have applied for Domestic Partnerships since Aug. 3 when couples began applying.

Only four judges need to accept the challenge in order for the case to move on.

To read more about this, visit ontopmag.com.

Opposite and same-sex couples wanting to register for a domestic partnership in Cleveland may have to act fast when the registry opens May 7.

Cleveland City Council passed an ordinance this past December that will grant unmarried couples a certificate documenting their partnership.

There’s no stopping the registry from opening as scheduled; however, groups of church leaders are collecting signatures to put the ordinance on the ballot this September or November. This would allow voters to choose whether they want the registry to stay open.

It’s not marriage, but it’s a step toward giving unmarried couples some rights.

“It could allow hospital visits,” says Sue Doerfer, executive director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Greater Cleveland. “… Or picking up students at school or daycare centers. It is something … We hear stories all the time — one of the people dies and nothing is written down. It’s some recognition that this couple is a family. They are attached and committed to each other.”

Doerfer has been instrumental in making Cleveland a more LGBT-friendly city through her work with an unofficial group called Cleveland Families Count.

“For a couple of years, a group of people have been working with people of city council on changing policies at the city — one was providing domestic partner benefits to employees and adding transgender language to discrimination ordinance,” she says. “When we started doing work on benefits, we spent a year meeting with city council, HR and insurance companies.”

But the insurance companies had a concern: fraud. Enter, the domestic partner registry.

Joe Cimperman, Ward 13 councilman for Cleveland City Council, introduced the ordinance last October. When it passed a few months later, Cleveland became the third city in Ohio to pass a domestic partner registry, joining Cleveland Heights and Toledo.

It’s a cause Cimperman says he’s passionate about because it’s about social justice.

“I got married a couple years ago, and there were a dozen gay and lesbian couples at my wedding, dating longer than me and my wife,” he says. “I looked to them for advice. But they can’t do the same thing because I was born straight and they were born gay. And that’s bullshit.”

Cimperman says their strategies forming and saving the registry are based on Toledo more than Cleveland Heights. Cleveland Heights passed their domestic partner registry before Issue 1, a statewide amendment passed in 2004 that prohibited civil unions and same-sex marriages in Ohio, went into effect. Cleveland had to be more careful with the language they used, making it very clear that this domestic partner registry is not a marriage.

“The far right thinks this could lead to gay marriage,” Cimperman says. “As much as conservatives would like to say it is, people trying to collect signatures (against the domestic partner registry) are from everywhere. What is it to them if the city of Cleveland wants to offer this? What is the big threat here, if (couples) would live together on a lease, visit in the hospital, show commitment? This is 2009. We have to be honest with each other.”

David Caldwell is also working to save the registry. He’s a spokesperson for AskCleveland.org, a group that worked hard to get the ordinance passed in Cleveland Heights. He says because Cleveland Heights has had the registry, it’s improved the atmosphere for LGBT people. He wants that to spread to Cleveland, but if the registry ends up being repealed in Cleveland, it could severely hurt the climate.

“Right now we have to make it stick,” Caldwell says. “If we lose this election, Cleveland’s going to be a national laughing stock. We’re going to probably be subjected to a national boycott by the gay community.”

In order for the domestic partner registry to be on the ballot, those who want the registry to be repealed must collect 5,000 signatures. They don’t have an official time limit, but if they want it to be on the ballot this fall, they have until the time the registry is scheduled to open. However, if they fail to collect enough signatures by then, they can keep trying to reach the amount required, and it could go on the ballot at a later date.

In the meantime, Caldwell says groups who want to keep the registry open need to work just as hard to garner support in case the ordinance should go on the ballot. He says he thinks the best way to do this is to talk to people door-to-door. When someone says they’re against the registry, he asks, “Why?”

“We know that gay marriage is an issue people disagree on,” he says. “(But) we think that domestic partnership, which is a simple legal institution, (allowing) hospital visitation, shared employee benefits, are inherited rights.”

Doerfer says she thinks it’s also important to target Cleveland’s diverse population not just by going door-to-door, but by working with neighborhoods and block clubs. Still, she admits she’s worried.

“When a major city like Cleveland puts civil rights of a minority to the vote of a majority, it is a very, very tough battle,” she says. “Look at Proposition 8 in California. Putting the rights of a minority to a public vote is a very difficult process. It’s very hard to predict where the results are going.”

David Caldwell encourages people who want to help to organize a group of people passionate about the cause, throw a house party to do some fundraising or just take a day to go out and talk to people. For more information, visit AskCleveland.org.