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Archive Version of
Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples Online from 1995-2022 Demian and Steve Bryant originally founded Partners as a monthly newsletter in 1986. By late 1990 it was reformatted into a bi-monthly magazine. Print publication was halted by 1995 when Demian published Partners as a Web site, which greatly expanded readership. In 1988, the Partners National Survey of Lesbian & Gay Couples report was published; the first major U.S. survey on same-sex couples in a decade. In 1996, Demian produced The Right to Marry, a video documentary based on the dire need for equality that was made clear by the data from the survey mentioned above. The video featured interviews with Rev. Mel White, Evan Wolfson, Phyllis Burke, Richard Mohr, Kevin Cathcart, Faygele benMiriam, Benjamin Cable-McCarthy, Susan Reardon, Frances Fuchs, Tina Podlodowski, and Chelle Mileur. Demian has been the sole operator during the last two decades of Partners. Demian stopped work on Partners Task Force in order to realize his other time-consuming projects, which include publishing the book “Operating Manual for Same-Sex Couples: Navigating the rules, rites & rights” - which is now available on Amazon. The book is based on the Partners Survey mentioned above, his interviews of scores of couples, and 36 years of writing hundreds of articles about same-sex couples. It’s also been informed by his personal experience in a 20-year, same-sex relationship. Demian’s other project is to publish his “Photo Stories by Demian” books based on his more than six decades as a photographer and writer. |
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On January 28, 2009, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to the same rights as opposite-sex couples in common-law marriages. The ruling means that civil and political rights such as nationality, residency, housing protection, and state benefits are now granted to same-sex partners. While the Colombian 1991 constitution promises equal rights for all citizens — and homosexual relationships were decriminalized in the 1980s — serious human rights violations against LGBT people are commonplace. The ruling was a result of an April 2008 suit by the gay rights group Colombia Diversa, the Centre for Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia), and the Group of Public Interest Law at the University of the Andes.
Colombia, a South American country of 45 million people, is largely Roman Catholic, and there is significant discrimination against gay people, despite other recent court rulings granting rights to same-sex couples. On numerous occasions, the police have been accused of abuse of authority and mistreatment of gay people. However, since the election of Álvaro Uribe Vélez in 2002, the situation has improved somewhat.
This common law marriage status does not work as a model for America, because it is only available in certain states in the U.S. and has never applied to same-sex couples. It allows for some marriage law to apply to opposite-sex couples who have lived together a certain length of time. The exact laws that apply — and the time necessary to trigger common-law status — vary by state.
Attempting to install common law marriage status would demand the same energy that it would take to make a Civil Union law, which requires duplicating 150-to-350 laws in each state, and more than 1,138 laws on the federal level. The idea is completely impractical.
While such contracts are an attempt to create equal treatment, they only reinforce a separate and totally unequal status, one we consider to be a manifestation of apartheid. For a vast survey, please see our:
Legal Marriage Report: Global Status of Legal Marriage Return to: Domestic Partnership Benefits
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