Domestic Partner Task Force
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Domestic Partner Task Force was a governmental body established in 1983 by the
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
n City of
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...
's Human Relations and Welfare Commission to draw up the structure of the city's (and, eventually, the state's)
domestic partnership A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee r ...
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 (born March 20, 1943) is a Berkeley, California gay rights activist who was the first to suggest a new legal category for recognizing couples other than marriage, and who coined the phrase domestic partnership. Brougham is a former m ...
, 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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, 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 San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
Supervisor
Harry Britt Harry Britt (June 8, 1938 – June 24, 2020) was an American political activist and politician in San Francisco. Britt was involved during the late-1960s in the civil rights movement when he was a Methodist minister in Chicago. He was first appoi ...
, a gay man appointed to replace
Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...
. 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 San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
Board of Supervisors, but
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
, mayor of San Francisco at the time, came under intense pressure from the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
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 The White Panthers were an anti-racist political collective founded in November 1968 by Pun 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, w ...
' recall petition against Feinstein, putting her mayoralty to a
recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...
. 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 board member and community activist Ethel Manheimer. 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 is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
. The first couple to file for benefits under Berkeley's sex-neutral policy were Brougham and his partner Barry Warren.


Domestic partnership registries

In June 1985 in
West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...
, city council member
John Heilman John William Heilman is an American municipal politician and former city councilmember of West Hollywood, California. He has served in the capacity of mayor multiple times since 1985. Education A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Heilman graduat ...
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 San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
became the second polity to a domestic partnership registry law. However, voters repealed the domestic partnership law by
initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...
; 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 Beach (April 1992) * City of Sacramento (October 1992) *
Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...
(May 1993) * City of Davis (May 1994) *
Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
(September 1995) *
Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...
(January 1996) *
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
(June 1996) * City of Santa Barbara (June 1997) *
Cathedral City Cathedral city is a city status in the United Kingdom. Cathedral city may also refer to: * Cathedral City, California, a city in Southern California, United States * Cathedral City Cheddar, a brand of Cheddar cheese * Cathedral City High Scho ...
(September 1997) *
Arcata Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...
(August 1998) * City of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
(May 1999) *
Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...
(June 1999) *
Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok languages, Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 a ...
(June 1999) *
City of Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the list of United States cities by population, 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the List of citie ...
(1999) *
Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...
(2000)


Domestic partnerships statewide

Domestic partnerships were signed into law by
Gray Davis Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. (born December 26, 1942) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 to 2003. In 2003, only a few months into his second term, Davis was recalled and remov ...
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 Software Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was "offloaded" to India's HCL Technologies in 2018. Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2- ...
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.


References

{{LGBT in California LGBT rights in California Organizations based in Berkeley, California Politics of the San Francisco Bay Area