This weekend at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Governor Gray Davis made history by signing Assembly Bill 205, the historic Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003. The new law, which will not go into effect until January 1, 2005, makes California the second state in the nation to provide sweeping legal protections for same-sex couples.

“I am strongly committed to extending human rights and equal rights to everyone. A family is a family not because of gender but because of values, like commitment, trust and love,” Davis said before signing the bill.

AB 205, authored by Los Angeles Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg and sponsored by San Diego’s own Christine Kehoe, grants domestic partners nearly all of the rights, benefits, and responsibilities currently granted to married couples by the state.

“I think AB 205 is landmark legislation,” Kehoe said. “It moves California into the forefront of providing equal protection of domestic partners, second only to Vermont. I think it’s legislation that we can all be proud of. It changes the way gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people live. It’s very important and I am proud to have been a small part of the effort.”

Only Vermont, which passed a civil union bill three years ago, similarly recognizes the families of same-sex couples. AB 205 is expected to have a greater impact on GLBT families than Vermont’s law, due to the size of the state and the higher percentage of GLBT people living in California.

Some of the significant new rights and responsibilities to be granted same-sex registered domestic partners include child custody and child and spousal support obligations, the right to make funeral arrangements, community property and spousal support, and mutual responsibility for debts.

“I think people have been aching for this equality of treatment and this gets us as close as we’ve gotten anywhere in the country to that equality,” said local attorney M.E. Stephens. “I think gay families are excited about the responsibilities that come with this because we’ve been figuring out how to do this on our own without the support of a government system that helps us with these issues and we’ve been doing it anyway.

“We’ve been successfully raising families, we’ve been successfully continuing relationships and we’ve been successfully dissolving relationships, but in a positive way because we have had to figure out how to structure children’s lives in relationship to a dissolved partnership without the help of the courts.”

In 1999, legislation authored by then Assemblymember Carole Migden, who is currently chair of the Board of Equalization, established California’s domestic partner registry. Since then more than 20,000 same-sex and senior opposite-sex couples have registered with the state. The Center has taken the lead in San Diego in helping couples register their domestic partner status.

“The materials are on our web site and AJ [Davis-Defeo, the director of The Center’s Public Policy Department] provides them, as well as some educational materials about what it all means,” said Dr. Delores Jacobs, the executive director of The Center. “What it will immediately mean is that we will have to revise some of the materials to explain what rights are now available.”

Traditionally, The Center has hosted annual domestic partner registration seminars. This year’s seminars will not only include the new additions to domestic partners’ rights, but also help explain what protections they still do not have and how some of them can be compensated for.

“They should take it more seriously now that they have more rights and responsibilities than previously,” AJ Davis-Defeo said about signing into a domestic partnership. “Anybody who wants to register as a domestic partner, I talk to them about what the rights and responsibilities are going to involve once AB 205 is in place so they realize this isn’t only about making medical decisions or only having a little piece of relationship recognition.”

In addition to providing rights to domestic partners, AB 205 will also shed light on a gray area that exists when gay and lesbian couples break up; how are issues such as child custody and dissolution of joint property handled? The passage of AB 205 also strengthens the ties created by a domestic partnership. Traditionally, one member of a partnership filling out a form and sending it in to the state could dissolve such partnerships; however, now it will involve the legal system.

“Now, under the new law, you will go into the family law system just like a heterosexual couple who is allowed to legally marry,” Stephens explained. “The family law system will take care of these cases in terms of how the children’s lives are structured, and in the event of a dissolution family law will govern that so gay couples will be subject to the community property laws just like everyone else.”

These historic changes will not go into effect for over a year, giving couples that are currently registered as domestic partners the time they need to decide if they want to assume the new rights and responsibilities.

“One of the things we’ve always said, whether we are talking about heterosexual marriage or domestic partnership, [is] people really need to investigate and understand not just what their rights are but what their responsibilities are pursuant to the law and the regulation,” Jacobs said. “Take a look at the changes; make sure it’s a thing they want to participate in and that they signed up for and if not, they can terminate that and we will help them do that as well.”

Letters from the state of California explaining the full effects of the new law will be sent out to all couples that are registered as domestic partners. Those registered can also use online resources like those provided by Equality California or Lambda Legal, or seek out legal aid to decide if they wish to remain in a partnership.

“It’s very important to talk with a lawyer,” Stephens added. “The changes are significant, especially folks who have social security, disability or student loans. Having a domestic partnership could severely affect them and they really do need to consult with a lawyer about the ins and outs and the impact of the law.”

While many are still rejoicing about the signing of AB 205 it is important to know that there still may be challenges to it from the conservative right. A representative of state Sen. William Knight, who wrote the 2000 ballot initiative approved by 61 percent of voters saying, “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in the state of California,” attended the signing ceremony, warning that Knight would file a lawsuit challenging the new law. There are also concerns that it may add fuel to the push for a federal marriage amendment that will define marriage, or anything like it, as being between a man and woman only.

“It concerns me when people resort to the initiative process to overturn good legislation,” Kehoe said, responding to such concerns. “You know, sometimes the best thing a democracy can do is protect the rights of a minority. That’s what this bill is about. Civil rights doesn’t have to be a popularity contest. I think we will win, but I do not think we should have to ask that question.”