Recently in Domestic Partnership Category

Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled recently that the voter-approved measure banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. And while it's still in legal limbo, same sex couples theoretically have the right to marry in California.

But gay and lesbian couples in Chicago that want to get hitched in California may need to wait a while, as Chicago family law attorneys also would advise. The ruling already has been appealed to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals by backers of Proposition 8 (Prop 8), the measure voted into law on 2008.

Prop 8 received most of its financial backing from the Mormon church, which ironically was persecuted for its own particularly unpopular marriage customs in the 19th Century. The church eventually banned polygamy in 1890 so that Utah could join the union, according to NewsInHistory.com.

Most Illinois state officials already offer same-sex domestic partnership benefits to their employees, on par with those extended to state treasury employees by Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias' recent executive order, according to the State Journal-Register.

The June 13 executive order allows gay and lesbian treasury employees to take time off in relation to the medical needs of their same-sex partners, in line with the rights of heterosexual employees under the Family Medical Leave Act. The department has 180 employees total.

If you're in a committed domestic partnership and would like more information about what this means legally, you might consider meeting with an Illinois family lawyer. 

Lindsey O'Brien and Rachel Miller, who have been in a committed relationship for five years, walked into the Rock Island County Clerk's Office for a marriage license but were quickly denied, as reported by the Quad City Times.

It doesn't take an Illinois family lawyer to know that two women, no matter how committed, cannot get married in the state.

The swift refusal was expected but the request was a symbolic act of protest against what the two women and countless others believe is an act of discrimination. Along with an entourage of 10 supporters, the couple walked across the Centennial Bridge to the Scott County Recorder's Office in neighboring Iowa with the same request.

One of the rights granted to married partners is the ability to visit one another in the hospital outside of the limited visiting hours set aside for friends and other non-family visitors. Married individuals also are able to make difficult medical decisions on behalf of their partners when they are incapacitated. These hospital visitation rights are crucial.

FindLaw describes medical-related and other rights and benefits extended to married couples. Same-sex partners in committed, long-term relationships (sometimes even legally married in other states) do not have these rights. As a result, same-sex partners have been fighting for hospital visitation rights.

President Obama last week pledged to extend hospital visitation and medical decision-making rights to same-sex partners, as reported by The New York Times.

If asked, most people would probably say that gun-ownership advocates and same-sex marriage proponents have very little in common. One group supports a strict reading of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, while the other group wants the same rights and privileges available to heterosexual couples.

But both groups have something to gain if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiff in a case challenging the constitutionality of Chicago's 28-year-old ban on handgun ownership, according to a CNN article.

Confused? Most people who are not Illinois family law attorneys or constitutional lawyers probably are, but first let's summarize the case before the nation's highest court.

While some religious groups may still frown upon the act of living together as a couple before getting married, an article in USA Today cites a study concluding that prenuptial cohabitation has little effect on the ultimate success of the union. The report by the National Center for Health Statistics based its findings on a sample of nearly 13,000 families.

So even though the number of cohabitating couples and children born out of wedlock continue to climb, according to another USA Today article, it doesn't translate into a corresponding increased demand for divorce attorneys in Chicago.

Past research, according to the first article, indicated that those who described themselves as "not married but living together with a partner of the opposite sex" in fact did have a higher divorce rate after marriage.

So what has changed?

A Daily Herald story about a Fox River Grove woman who admitted to selling her ex-boyfriend's speed boat illustrates what can go wrong when a couple that jointly owns property breaks up without deciding how that property should be handled. Kathleen M. Helman initially was arrested on felony charges after selling the unidentified man's 1998 Wellcraft Scarab. 

While the couple was never married or in a legal domestic partnership. But both parties were named on the boat's title and Ms. Helman said she was left with the monthly payments after her ex allegedly left her for another woman. She claims she couldn't afford to make the payments, so she sold the boat.

Although the State of Illinois does not legally recognize same-sex marriage, the Chicago Tribune reports that this year's federal census will allow gay and lesbian couples in otherwise committed relationships to be counted. Illinois allows same-sex couples to register as domestic partners.

The article profiles North Side women, Ellen Meyers and Elena Yatzeck, who simply changed the pronouns in a traditional Christian prayer book for a 2008 commitment ceremony attended by more than 200 friends and family members.

Although any Illinois family lawyer will say it did nothing to change their legal status, the women claim the ritual "changed how they perceived us" (referring to those who attended the festivities). 

Now the federal government finally will perceive them as more than just roommates.

Republican gubernatorial front-runner Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) proposed amending the Illinois constitution to ban same-sex marriage; according the Chicago Sun-Times. Going even further than other same-sex marriage opponents, Sen. Brady reportedly plans to seek a ban on civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

Furthermore, Sen. Brady voted against a 2005 law banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in the context of housing and employment, the Chicago Tribune reported last month. An Illinois family lawyer may be able to shed more light on the rights of same-sex domestic partnership and employment law issues.  

Illinois does not currently provide for civil unions between same-sex partners, according to an article in ChicagoPride, but Equality Illinois political director Rick Garcia told reporters that momentum is building:

"Polling in the past has indicated that Illinois voters support civil unions and there is growing support in the legislature. I am hopeful that we will pass the civil union bill sooner than later."  

Unmarried couples lack many of the benefits and protections extended to married couples, according to FindLaw, including hospital visitation rights. But that doesn't mean domestic partnership doesn't allow contracts, wills, powers of attorney or other legal mechanisms for the benefit of a couple's relationship.

According to the Census Bureau, there were 4.9 million unmarried couples as of 2005, including many same-sex couples who in most states are prohibited by law from marrying.