The following article appeared in the New York Times on Tuesday, 
March 2nd, 1993.  Several people commented on it but I think it is 
good enough to post the whole thing.  And as Polly pointed out, there is a 
terrific picture on page one of two young ladies, both dressed in basic 
black wearing a string of pearls, and  holding a bouquet.  It is reproduced 
without permission.  

A LEGAL THRESHOLD IS CROSSED BY GAY COUPLES IN NEW YORK
     by Jonathan P. Hicks
Some came as if headed to a formal event, dressed in tuxedos or 
party dresses.  Many had to go to work and wore business suits 
or causal slacks.  All of them -- the first 109 couples to register
as "domestic partners" in the City of New York -- left with something 
long withheld, an official acknowledgment of their untraditional lives.
Six weeks after Mayor David N. Dinkins signed an executive order 
enabling heterosexual and homosexual couples to register as unmarried
"domestic partners" and receive some of the rights of married couples, 
the City Clerk's office yesterday began conducting the registration.
In a short process in the Municipal Building, couples filled out a 
few forms, presented identification and received a certificate similar to 
a marriage license.
"This makes us happy, because it is the closet thing we can get to the 
kind of acknowledgment couples get in the straight world," said Manny
Lacayo. a 26-year-old accountant in an advertising firm.  Mr. Lacayo 
and his partner, David Vegam a 29-year-old hospital clerk said they would 
celebrate later in the evening with a bottle of champagne "and a toast
to the future."
They began arriving in small numbers an hour before the new office opened
at 9 a.m.  After a noon demonstration on the steps of City Hall in 
support of the registration, couples began pouring in to the second 
floor of the Municipal Building, to fill out an affidavit and have it 
notarized, then to show identification and receive a certificate with 
blue borders.  By the early afternoon, a line wrapped around the long
corridor.
Many wore pink carnations or held bouquets.  The couples were fairly evenly
divided between men and women.  There were three heterosexual couples.
Cameras flashed repeatedly as newly registered couples -- some with 
friends and family members alongside -- hugged, kissed and celebrated.
Many said they would have special dinners with friends or parties in 
their homes.
Ruth Berman, a 59-year-old grandmother, said that registering offered 
another sign to her family, friends and society that her 18-year 
relationship with her companion, 56-year-old Connie Kurtz, was as 
binding as any heterosexual marriage.  "We have six grandchildren 
between the two of us," Ms. Berman said.  "And we're taking another 
step to make a statement.  We wish we still had greater rights as a
couple, but this is a start."
Under the Mayor's executive order, registered domestic partners 
employed by the city are entitled to the same unpaid leave that has
been available to city workers who are married and wish to care for a
new child.  Also, registered domestic partners will have the same rights
as married spouses in visiting partners at  municipal hospitals and
city jails.
In addition, registered domestic partners will be entitled to the same
standing as married couples in qualifying for apartments and in 
inheriting a lease in residential buildings owned or overseen by city 
housing agencies, including rent-controlled and rent-stabilized 
apartments.
While many couples in the line to register said they considered their 
standing as  registered domestic partners a milestone, many said their 
recognition as a couple did not go far enough.  Some lamented that obtaining
a certificate was largely symbolic and that they had a long road toward
obtaining the rights of married couples.
Many couples complained that they did not have the same rights in 
obtaining health insurance as married couples.  Nor, they noted, did 
they have the same tax status as married couples.  Legislation is pending
before the City Council that would offer the same health benefits for city
workers who are domestic partners as provided city employees who are 
married.
"Domestic partnerships deserve full legal recognition," said Ellen  Carton,
executive director of the New York chapter of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation.  "We work.  We pay taxes.  We have children.  We share
the same responsibilities that married couples do.  We deserve the same 
benefits."
The process for registering as domestic partners is similar to obtaining 
a marriage license, which is governed by the state.  the major distinction
is that couples getting married go through a ceremony, while domestic
partners fill out an affidavit, which is notarized, unlike a 
marriage license.  The cost for a marriage license is $30, whereas the 
cost to register as domestic partners will be $20.  For the moment, 
however, registration is free, under a 30-day waiting period mandated
by the city charter following the beginning date of the registration, 
said Carlos Cuevas, the city clerk.
Not all New Yorkers were as thrilled as the newly registered couples.
One critic of the Mayor's executive order is the Roman Catholic 
Archdiocese of New York.  "In general, the family is still the bedrock, 
the absolute foundation of our society," said Joseph G. Zwillig, a 
spokesman for the Archdiocese.  "The efforts to give other living 
arrangements the same status as the family hurts society at large."
About 25 other cities, states or counties in the United States -- including
San Francisco, Washington and Minneapolis -- have created some form of 
domestic partnerships or have offered parental leave or medical benefits
for domestic partners  of unmarried government workers.  Under the executive
order in New York City,  the partnership can be terminated by filing 
another form with the city, accompanied by a $15 fee.
Some couples yesterday questioned whether the presence of the city's 
domestic partnership registration would reduce the rights of couples 
who remain unregistered, particularly in tenant disputes with landlords.
Some recent court rulings had validated the rights of homosexual 
tenants whose partners had died.
Peggy Brady, an attorney who is on the board of the New York Chapter of the 
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said that little would 
likely change for unregistered couples as a result of the city's 
registration procedure.  She said that there are already a number of 
factors judges use to determine the status of homosexual relationships,
ranging from the number of vacations taken together to length of time partners
had lived with each other.
"This would be just one more piece of evidence in showing that two people
are domestic partners," Ms. Brady said.  "The intention of this 
domestic partnership registration is that tenants should be able to 
still use other methods to prove that they are domestic partners."