After talking to someone who had been married to a lawyer about domestic partnerships vs. marriage, I decided to actually ask a lawyer, who pointed me to the actual law.
Opponents of Prop 8 rail about how the Proposition will ruin their lives. Turns out the only thing Prop 8 will do is deny same sex couples the ability to be issued a marriage license and be married "by the authority vested in me by the State of California". It won't remove any rights which domestic partners already have. It also won't remove any Federal rights, because the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) already does that.
You can read the domestic partnership law here, but this is an excerpt:
FAMILY.CODE
SECTION 297-297.5
297.5. (a) Registered domestic partners shall have the same rights,
protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same
responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law, whether they
derive from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules,
government policies, common law, or any other provisions or sources
of law, as are granted to and imposed upon spouses.
(b) Former registered domestic partners shall have the same
rights, protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same
responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law, whether they
derive from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules,
government policies, common law, or any other provisions or sources
of law, as are granted to and imposed upon former spouses.
(c) A surviving registered domestic partner, following the death
of the other partner, shall have the same rights, protections, and
benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities,
obligations, and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes,
administrative regulations, court rules, government policies, common
law, or any other provisions or sources of law, as are granted to
and imposed upon a widow or a widower.
---
So it boils down to an emotional issue. I'm all for emotions, and romance, but they have no place in the law. I am against Prop 8 because the law has no place in my bedroom. If I could, I would remove all marriage-related laws from the books. They violate my right to equality under the law as a single person.
