Domestic Partnership Initiative would substitute "domestic partnership" for "marriage" in California law

03/11/09 SF Chronicle Politics Blog:

"A lot of people who voted for Prop. 8 did so because their religious beliefs tell them marriage is between a man and a woman. They aren't necessarily against same-sex couples, but they can't go against their religious beliefs," initiative-backer Ali Shams said. "With this option we're allowing them to bypass that dilemma."

03/10/09 SF Chronicle:

Two college students have received approval from the California Secretary of State to circulate a petition to qualify a Domestic Partnership Initiative for the state's 2010 ballot. On January 12th, the California Attorney General received their request for a title and summary of their proposed constitutional amendment. Yesterday the California Attorney General prepared the title and summary.

The Domestic Partnership Initiative appears to anticipate a version of a proposal by two Pepperdine University law professors that was discussed in the oral arguments. (For discussion in the oral arguments, see also the 03/06/09 LA Times editorial favoring the proposal.) Pepperdine University law professors Douglas Kmiec and Shelley Ross Saxer would substitute "espousal" for "marriage," except that they would defer to the state legislature to enact their reform by statute. Unlike proponents of the Domestic Partnership Initiative, they would also protect exercise of religious conscience with respect to marriage ceremonies, and would protect the federal DOMA rights and benefits of married couples.

03/10/09 ADF Alliance Alert:

This alert has information about the proposed Initiative, and about Yes! on Equality's January 26th request for a title and summary of the California Marriage Equality Act Initiative.