What effect does legalizing domestic partnerships have on our society?
I mean, there've been studies done, actually the Williams Institute, which is based at UCLA, has done studies on the government savings for taxpayers of both domestic partnership and marriage. And those savings are significant. It comes from the fact that, when people don't have health insurance because they don't get it through their partner or their partner's work, those people often end up going to emergency rooms and that's being paid for by tax dollars. So there are many examples in that situation where taxpayers actually cover the cost because government discriminates against same-sex couples. As a society, we should be treating everyone equall, and domestic partnership is really a step to give people some rights and benefits until we can end the discrimination that currently exists in the marriage laws. It's a way of letting couples be recognized and have some stability and have some access to benefits and protections for their family. Without any recognition of your relationship and that of your children, you're often left in a really vulnerable situation. There are horror stories about people who end up homeless because their partner dies and they don't have access to any of the benefits that a married couple had. So it's really important from that perspective.
