CA Court Rules Gay
Couples Have
Same Rights as
Married Couples
From Bloomberg.com on
the Web, August 1, 2005
The California Supreme Court said
businesses must treat gay couples registered under the state's eighth-month-old
domestic partner law the same as opposite-sex married couples.
In a ruling against the Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego, the court
said a business that extends benefits to spouses it "denies to registered
domestic partners engages in impermissible marital status discrimination."
B. Birgit Koebke and Kendall French, a lesbian couple and avid golfers, sued the
country club claiming it denied them the same benefits as married couples by
requiring Koebke, who is a member, to pay an extra fee for French to play a
round of golf. The club allows guests of married members to play for free.
The ruling will have a "far-reaching impact across a wide range of businesses"
in California, including banks, insurers and health clubs, said Jon Davidson,
legal director for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which
represented the couple.
"If domestic partners want to buy a house and go to the bank for a loan, the
bank wouldn't look at their income jointly," said Davidson, in a telephone
interview. "They won't be able to do that anymore."
John Shiner, an attorney for the Bernardo Heights Country Club, and Jim Andrus,
the club's general manager, didn't return messages left on voicemail.
Over 25,000 gay couples have registered as domestic partners under a California
law that was enacted in 2003 and took effect in January. The law gives
same-sex couples community property rights, mutual responsibility for debts,
custody and support rights for children and the ability to claim a partner's
body after death. It doesn't allow same-sex couples to file joint federal
tax returns.
Insurance Discounts
Davidson said car insurance companies will have to offer registered California
gay couples the same discounts that married couples get. Health clubs that
offer discounts to spouses will also have to give the same deals to same-sex
partners, he said.
The ruling by the San Francisco-based Supreme Court applies only to couples who
are registered as domestic partners with the state.
The case is B. Birgit Koebke v Bernardo Heights Country Club, S124179,
California Supreme Court, San Francisco.
Editor: Pinsley. To contact the reporter on this story:
Karen Gullo in San Francisco at
kgullo@bloomberg.net
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