Couples celebrate new law - News

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Oct. 02, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Couples celebrate new law

Domestic partners now recognized

By LYNNETTE CURTIS and ED VOGEL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Danielle Hill, center, and Angela Turner wait at the Sawyer Building for Deputy Secretary of State Robert Walsh to hand them a certificate recognizing the women as legal domestic partners.
Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Angela Mitchem, left, Lynda M. Hubeny and their son, Oryan Greatwood, 10, of Henderson, look at their new domestic partners papers at the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas on Thursday. Mitchem and Hubeny were among the first couples to receive certificates under a new Nevada law that took effect Thursday. The law grants them many of the same rights and responsibilities as married couples.
Photo by Craig L. Moran.

For Angela Turner and Danielle Hill, a single day can make all the difference in the world.

"Yesterday, our son meant nothing to me on paper," Turner said, gesturing toward the couple's one-month-old baby, Maxwell. "Today, it's different. That's a big deal."

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Las Vegans Turner and Hill, who conceived their son through artificial insemination, were among the first couples to receive certificates recognizing them as legal domestic partners under a new Nevada law which took effect Thursday.

The day was historic particularly for gay and lesbian couples, many of whom thought the day would never come in Nevada.

"It's surreal," said Nicole McKinzie, who dropped by the secretary of state's Las Vegas office for a certificate legally recognizing her relationship with longtime partner Katharine Anderson. "You know it's happening, you hear all the buzz about it, but to see it actually go through, it's a really big step."

About 750 same- and opposite-sex couples so far have registered to receive their certificates, which guarantee them many of the same rights and responsibilities as married couples.

Those rights include the ability to make health care decisions for each other, hold community property and automatically assume parentage for children. Debt and property are shared.

"It's a great step forward for civil rights and equality for all couples," said Maggie McLetchie, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. "Some people have been waiting years and years -- too long to count -- for this."

In Carson City, tears fell from the eyes of Larry Davis and Lee W. Cagley as they were handed domestic partnership certificate No. 1 by Secretary of State Ross Miller in the state Capitol.

"We feel very fortunate," said Cagley, an interior designer who redesigned the Governor's Mansion in its original 1909 style when Miller's mother Sandy was Nevada's First Lady.

"Someone had to be No. 1," responded Miller with a grin.

Cagley and Davis, a funeral director, said the right to make decisions for each other is important to them.

"If he got in a car accident, I could make medical decisions for him, visit him in the hospital with no hassle," Cagley said.

"Why does it have to be me in the car accident?" Davis joked.

Besides being domestic partners, Cagley and Davis were legally married on Aug. 3, 2008, in California. Nevada law does not recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Seven years ago, two-thirds of Nevadans approved the Protection of Marriage constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The new law specifies that domestic partners are not considered married, and does not affect federal laws. That means a person cannot claim a partner as a spouse to file a joint income tax return or secure Social Security benefits of a deceased partner.

The law does state that companies that offer health care benefits to their employees may provide benefits to their domestic partners, though that is not required.

Nevada is now one of 12 states that permit gay and lesbian couples to secure domestic partnerships. Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont allow same-sex couples to marry. New Hampshire will permit same-sex marriages starting Jan. 1.

Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored the domestic partner law, said the number of Nevadans filing so far is three times what he expected. Most of those pre-registered and requested that the certificates be mailed to them.

Parks said he expects about 2,500 couples to secure legal domestic partnerships by the end of October.

So far, less than 2 percent of registered domestic partnerships in Nevada are opposite-sex couples.

McLetchie emphasized that the new law can help all couples, especially older couple who don't choose to marry because it could affect their benefits.

Domestic partnership forms are available at the secretary of state's offices in Carson City and in the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.

They also are available online at http://sos.state.nv.us/licensing/securities/domesticpartnership.asp. The cost is $50. Forms must be notarized.

Those who eventually choose to terminate their legal domestic partnerships may do so in one of two ways. Partners who have been registered less than five years, have no minor children or joint property and have waived any right to future financial support may file a "domestic partnership termination form" and pay a $50 fee.

Partners who don't meet those conditions must follow standard Nevada divorce laws.

That was the last thing on the minds of couples who picked up their certificates Thursday. They were celebrating.

"We're just a couple who love each other and want to make sure we're both protected," Turner said. "This is our future."

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. David wrote on October 03, 2009 01:20 AM: In the Bible somewhere doesn't it say something about God creating Adam and Eve. Domestic partnerships are just that, partnerships and should not be given the same rights as a man and a women who are legally married. This country is really on its way! KJ wrote on October 02, 2009 09:56 PM: Fifty years ago, people made the same comments when the US Supreme Court overturned laws that said whites couldn't marry blacks. They said that the nation would go to hell when people of different colors married. Some people will never change. Serious wrote on October 02, 2009 09:38 PM: I feel sorry for the young boys being raised by two women. Not only will this bill bankrupt our country but it will bring more distrub kids through our schools to poison the good kids being raised by a man and a woman .. that are legally married under the eyes of God. Stupid liberals and their dumb ideas bring nothing but hardships on the rest of us hard working people. haters wrote on October 02, 2009 05:51 PM: You people that hate are simply just uneducated that's why your foolish.Go to the bookstore,library,computer(Google) and read you have a ways to go,but,get started hate is curable through education especially math.Live and let live,and leave emmmm alone. John Rangle wrote on October 02, 2009 05:28 PM: I thought I lived in America, home of Freedom. Freedom, what men and woman have given their lives to protect for the rest of us. Freedom to live where we want, freedom to have as many children as we want, freedom to have the friends we want, to live in the neighborhoods we want, to read what we want, to worship whatever god we want, to be an atheists, to earn a living in the vocation we want, to travel where we want and yes, even to love whomever we want. For people like "Shrub", what is it to you if the employer pays benefits? If you are married with a family, single people have been paying your way- including single gay people! Single person pays the same sewer rate, garbage rate, phone rate, cable rate, pays more for health insurance than a 'parent + children' and proportionally more than a husband and wife. Employers often pay for spouse insurance and dependent insurance; this means that a single person receives less compensation for the same job the the married person. Is that equitable? No. Freedom, pursuit of happiness, liberty, the foundations of our republic, yet some people would deny these rights to others. These feelings of non-inclusion and lack of freedom is what drove our forefathers (the R-J called them Marxist yesterday), to leave England and settle in America. Shrub Scouts Unite... Who cares? wrote on October 02, 2009 05:02 PM: Can't wait to see the statistics on MURDER/SUICIDE among domestic partnerships, when companies quit hiring them because they have to pay benefits to the whole extended Scam-Fam Damilies. As an employer, not a CHANCE would I let you through the door. You might have scored a victory in political circles, kind of like the Libtards that love ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, solely because of their votes. Good luck filling out the application on your next job interview. Heterosexual? Come on in. Homosexual? Application in the shredder. Sad but TRUE. Now get back in your closets. BTW, it's not illegal to hate you freaks either. In fact, I enjoy hating you. That's my right as an American. Fast Forward 5 years... wrote on October 02, 2009 04:54 PM: Can't wait to see the statistics on MURDER/SUICIDE among domestic partnerships, when companies quit hiring them because they have to pay benefits to the whole extended Scam-Fam Damilies. As an employer, not a CHANCE would I let you through the door. You might have scored a victory in political circles, kind of like the Libtards that love ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, solely because of their votes. Good luck filling out the application on your next job interview. Heterosexual? Come on in. Homosexual? Application in the shredder. Sad but TRUE. Now get back in your closets. BTW, it's not illegal to hate you freaks either. In fact, I enjoy hating you. That's my right as an American. even poorer maxwell wrote on October 02, 2009 04:11 PM: to one of maxwell's moms... stop masking your selfishness with remarks about how everyone "hates". you wanted a kid to be like the rest of us, to join the club, when you're not LIKE the rest of us. maxwell has to suffer with a screwed up household because of your actions. and now poor maxwell is gonna know his father? makes it even more bizarre. so max...here's your daddy but he doesn't live with us and not going to raise you. what??? i can only speculate who you chose to be his biological daddy if it isn't a sperm donor.... and you seriously think there is nothing wrong here? like i said...your choice not the kid's choice. Only in Vegas wrote on October 02, 2009 04:00 PM: One Nation Under God! Get it straight Michelle … who may be a Michael? WTF is happening to this country I defended for 23 years! Michelle wrote on October 02, 2009 03:41 PM: I believe in separation of church and state...this country was founded on that. Gay couples don't hurt anyone. Congratulations to all of you and have a great fabulous gay celebration!!! Read All Comments