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Ceremony for Domestic Partnership in NYC
May 18th
 Domestic partnerships registration has been available in New York City for 17 years but have lacked a level of romance. Now registrants are offered a marriage like ceremony to honor their domestic partnership according to the New York Daily News. The idea of providing a ceremony was suggested by a group of Fordham Law School students who spent time last year working with the City Council's legal division."We thought it was a good idea," City Clerk Michael McSweeney said of providing a more memorable ceremony for domestic partners.
Civil ceremonies will be available for domestic partnerships starting June 3rd at all of the city’s five borough offices. Registering as a same-sex domestic partner is not the same as gay marriage but it does convey some legal benefits, especially if one partner is a city employee. Registered partners of municipal workers are generally entitled, for instance, to the same city health and other benefits as given to married spouses. Domestic partners also qualify for tenancy rights at city developments.
Up until now, the nearly 50,000 domestic partners who signed up have received nothing more than a piece of paper. Most of the city's registered domestic partnerships are not between same-sex partners; of the 5,534 partners who registered last year, only 70% were straight.
"Sounds like a small step in the right direction," said Joseph Hagelmann, president of the Stonewall Democratic Club in Manhattan. "But we're not going to be happy until we have full marriage equality."
With last year's rejection of a gay marriage law by the state Senate, a domestic partnership ceremony "is a good gesture," agreed Councilman James Van Bramer (D-Queens). "Not everyone is going to want a ceremony, but if they do they should be able to have it," Van Bramer said.
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