Heterosexual Discrimination By California Courts?

The Los Angeles County trial judge dismissed the complaint, and the 1st District affirmed, holding that the state legislature had “rational bases” for not extending partnership benefits to “cohabiting unmarried couples in general.” “The fact domestic partners are legally or practically prevented from marrying, while cohabiting couples of the opposite sex are not,” Justice Earl Johnson Jr. wrote, “provides a rational basis for extending the right to sue for wrongful death to the former but not the latter. “In addition,” he said, “married couples and domestic partners have publicly registered their legal relationship while cohabiting couples of the opposite sex have not, thereby providing an additional basis for recognizing the economic loss to the survivors of the former but not the latter.”

In passing the law in 2000, legislators said adult couples may qualify as domestic partners if they are of the same sex or one of the two is at least 62 years of age and eligible for Social Security benefits. The law was amended in 2002, adding several new rights and obligations, including the ability to sue for wrongful death. That change was prompted by the January 2001 dog-mauling death of Diane Whipple in San Francisco. Sharon Smith, Whipple's longtime partner, lobbied for the new law after finding out she — and all other same-sex couples — had no right to sue for wrongful death.