Invalidated marriages may become domestic partnerships

In light of the California supreme court's August 12 ruling invalidating the more than 4,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in San Francisco earlier this year, two city supervisors want to make it up to the couples by providing them with other protections. Under legislation being pursued by openly gay San Francisco supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty, all of the same-sex couples who received marriage licenses in San Francisco in February and March would automatically be granted citywide domestic partnerships. According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, an aide for Ammiano said the supervisors planned to introduce a resolution at Tuesday's board of supervisors meeting directing the city attorney's office to draft the ordinance, which would be considered by the full board sometime after its three-week recess. The legislation is being considered as a gesture of good faith to the couples. The local domestic-partnership program--which is separate from the state of California's--allows employees of the city and county of San Francisco to take advantage of benefits, such as health care, offered to straight married couples.