AB 205
What it Means for Couples
What it Means for Our Community

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Equality California (EQCA) today released a new publication designed to help California domestic partners understand the legal implications of AB 205,
California's broad new domestic partner law that takes full effect on January 1, 2005. Titled The New California Domestic Partnership Law (AB 205): What it Means for You and Your Family, the document explains who can
register as domestic partners, how to register, how to dissolve a partnership, and what rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities will be provided under AB 205.

Starting on January 1, 2005, registered domestic partners in California will be granted most of the rights and responsibilities of married couples under California law. Major changes include community property and
financial obligations, parental rights and responsibilities, public benefits, and health care and end-of-life issues. However, registered domestic partners will still be denied the 1,138 rights and responsibilities conferred to married couples under federal law, and they still will have less security than married couples when they travel or
move outside California.

Several anti-gay groups have challenged the validity of AB 205 in court. NCLR, along with the Law Office of David C. Codell, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU, intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of twelve same-sex couples and Equality California. In September, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled that the law was valid. That
decision is now on appeal. In a last-ditch effort, despite having lost in the trial court, the anti-gay groups also filed an emergency request asking the appellate court to prevent the law from going into effect as planned on January 1, 2005. A ruling on this request will be issued shortly.

EQCA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians. Equality California is one of the largest and fastest growing statewide LGBT organizations in the country. We can be contacted through our website at www.eqca.org. NCLR is a national legal resource center with a primary commitment to advancing the rights and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through a program of litigation, public policy advocacy, free legal advice and counseling, and public education. We can be contacted through our website at www.nclrights.org.