Couples Eager for Laguna Beach Partners Ordinance to Take Effect

Bivens Hunt and Kathryn Turner recently exchanged commitment vows and rings, popped a champagne bottle to celebrate, then drove to Scottsdale, Ariz., for their honeymoon.

But the two women could not apply for a marriage certificate since no state in the country recognizes the union of gay or lesbian couples. So Turner, a 56-year-old college administrator, used a personal computer to print out a “certificate of ceremony” and asked the minister to sign it.

They want something official, however, and expect to get it on May 21.

That’s when the Laguna Beach city clerk’s office will accept a fee of about $25 and a completed application form in exchange for a “domestic partner” certificate with the city’s seal on it.

“It doesn’t buy us much,” Turner said. “It’s a very symbolic gesture. It gets us exposure and that’s all. Having a little piece of paper is not going to necessarily change people’s attitudes.”

Since the City Council formally approved Orange County’s first domestic partnership ordinance on Tuesday, the legislation has not only attracted the interest of homosexual couples, but also heterosexuals, young and old, who are living together. It gives unmarried couples a limited set of legal rights already enjoyed by married couples when the certificate is presented.

Valid only in Laguna Beach, the document extends the status of family member to partners in certain situations, such as jail visits or hospital visits at South Coast Medical Center. It would also be valid in making funeral arrangements in the event of a companion’s death.

“We’re talking about very practical matters here, not the social stigma and emotional costs of this kind of relationship,” said Hunt, 51, a litigation supervisor.

“We’re hoping this will be another positive step toward breaking down the discrimination against gays and lesbians for a way of being we have no control over,” she continued. “It’s the only way we’ll be able to blend into American society.”

The ordinance--already in effect in such cities as San Francisco, Berkeley, West Hollywood and Washington--is expected to be more symbolic than effective, according to city officials, potential applicants and legal experts.

The Laguna Beach law differs from those elsewhere in three ways, said Mayor Robert F. Gentry, who first proposed the idea to the City Council on April 7. Couples are not required to live together, and the certificate is valid statewide if they choose to enter into a durable power of attorney agreement in health care decisions or the disposition of personal effects.

Couples must be at least 18 years old and do not need to be Laguna Beach residents. Though they may live apart, as is the case for many commuters, they must also be each other’s “sole domestic partner” and share living expenses.

One 46-year-old city employee who is thinking of applying for a certificate is involved in a heterosexual relationship and has lived with her companion for five years.

The domestic partners certificate would “give legitimacy to a relationship without giving into the legal ramifications of marriage,” said the employee, who did not want to be identified. “It gives a person more mental freedom to make our own commitments. It makes it possible to define the parameters of our own relationship.”

But the certificate leaves out a wide range of rights given to married couples under state law, legal experts said.

For example, it does not give couples joint filing status on tax forms; the right to sue a third party on behalf of a spouse; the right of inheritance; or the ability to extend health and dental insurance and Social Security and workers’ compensation benefits to their partners.

Seniors who do not want to jeopardize their Social Security benefits by remarrying will not be helped by the certificate, said Grace Blumberg, a UCLA law professor specializing in family law. Years ago, seniors who remarried lost part of their ex-spouse’s benefits, she said, but the legislation has since changed and there is no penalty.

For the most part, the Laguna Beach law is “peculiarly limited and unambitious,” she said.

“It hardly does anything,” Blumberg said after reviewing a copy of the ordinance. “It says you can visit the hospital, you can visit the jail, but it doesn’t create any other rights.

“Laguna Beach cannot confer a lot of rights on people,” she added. “There’s a certain symbolic value but not a lot of legal value. . . . The most important law governing personal matters is state law.”

The certificate cannot even be used to claim the body of a partner in the event of death, Deputy Coroner Jacque Berndt said. The other person must already be named executor or executrix in a will, she said.

Senior citizens such as 74-year-old Betty Swenson recognize the ordinance’s limitations. Nonetheless, she is interested in the hospital visitation provisions in case either she or her ex-husband get sick.

“In our particular instance, we have been divorced and recently got back together,” Swenson said of her relationship with her ex-husband, Swede, 72.

“It reaches my sense of fairness,” she added. “It’s socially time for this kind of legislation. It makes economic good sense and social good sense.”

The elderly couple, who already have durable power of attorney agreements, do not expect to use the certificate for any other reason.

But for other seniors, the certificate will enable them to claim a tax deduction on property once owned in Laguna Beach if an ex-spouse has not already done so, Gentry said.

In recent years, Laguna Beach has taken a series of steps to protect the rights of its large homosexual population. Last year, the city extended medical and dental benefits to unmarried partners of city employees. In 1984, it passed an anti-discrimination law protecting gays and lesbians.

A day after the domestic partnership ordinance was approved, the city clerk’s office received more than 30 calls for information, some from as far away as Michigan.

The move to introduce the ordinance is a personal one for Gentry, whose partner of 15 years died of AIDS in 1989. At that time, Gentry wrangled with a Newport Beach hospital over custody of the body.

“Gays and lesbians suffer a real stigma that their relationships are not committed, not long-lasting. This ordinance helps to dispel that myth,” Gentry said. “My first relationship was not recognized and validated. I want to be recognized as a family man.”

Gentry and his partner for the past 2 1/2 years, Dennis Amick, hope to be the first couple in line when the certificate becomes available.

Hunt and Turner, close friends of the mayor, want to be the first women. “We’ll be right behind the two of them,” Hunt said.

Protection for Domestic Partners

With the passage of a domestic partners ordinance, Laguna Beach becomes Orange County’s first city to recognize couples living together--both homosexual and heterosexual--in a long-term relationship. What it will mean:

Who Is Qualified: Applicants must be 18 or older and sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury attesting that their partner is a “sole domestic partner” who shares living expenses. But the partners need not live together full time or be Laguna Beach residents.

What Is Needed: A filing fee of about $25 and a completed application form.

Major Provisions 1. All health care facilities in the city shall allow a domestic partner to visit a patient unless the facility prohibits visitors.

2. The city jail shall allow a domestic partner to visit an inmate unless the jail prohibits visitors or the Police Department decides a particular visitor is a security threat.

3. A certificate issued by the city may be used to file a durable power of attorney in two areas, health care and the disposition of personal effects at the time of death.

To Terminate the Partnership: A termination statement may be filed with the city clerk by either partner. The statement must include proof that a copy has also been sent to the other partner. No person is eligible to apply for a new domestic partners certificate until six months after terminating a previous one.

Source: city of Laguna Beach