If you want us to notify you when we've updated this page, click here.

2008

• Domestic partners two-timed: California's registered domestic partners are sailing in uncharted territory this tax season. For the first time, a landmark state law requires them to file their taxes as married couples - even though federal tax laws don't recognize such unions. (2/1/2008) more

• Domestic partners get same property tax break as surviving spouses: Domestic partners in California won the right to the same property tax breaks as husbands and wives under state law Thursday when the state Supreme Court turned down an appeal by county assessors. (1/4/2008) more

• California Partners Keep Property Tax Relief: A California appellate court this week upheld a vital provision that protects registered domestic partners from property tax reappraisal when their partners die or transfer real estate.(10/8/2007) more

• Court delivers victory to domestic partners over death or taxes on inheritance: Domestic partners have the same right as husbands and wives to accept or inherit real estate from one another without big property tax increase, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday. (10/3/2007) more

• Raw Video: San Diego Mayor Supports Gay Marriage: San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders expressed his support for same-sex marriage, after revealing his daughter is gay. (9/19/2007) more

• Registered California Gay Couples Will Face Messy Tax Season: Gay couples registered under California’s domestic-partner law will be required to file their state income taxes as a married couple April 15. There’s just one problem: The Franchise Tax Board hasn’t figured out how to make that work. Since the federal government doesn’t recognize gay couples in any h way - be they married or domestically partnered - such couples have to file their federal taxes singly, as unmarried. (8/30/2007) more

• America's Finest Blog: Same-sex marriage has been a hot-button topic for years, one that moderate politicians of both parties have tried to finesse with simultaneous expressions of sympathy to gay couples and empathy with social conservatives who think same-sex marriage undercuts the conventional kind. (6/10/2007) more

• Gays and lesbians allowed conjugal visits in prisons: California's prison system is changing its regulations to allow conjugal visits for gay and lesbian inmates in response to a legal threat and a 2003 law that gave domestic partners many of the same rights as married couples. (6/1/2007) more

• Bill would simplify changing names for partners, men: When Kinna Patel and Ashle Crocker exchanged their vows and registered as domestic partners in September, the lesbian couple also decided to have the same last name for their new family. (5/31/2007) more

• Marriage law battle goes to high court: The state's ban on same-sex marriage confers second-class status on lesbians and gay men and invites discrimination, the city of San Francisco and 22 same-sex couples argue in briefs filed Monday asking the California Supreme Court to strike down its marriage law. (4/3/2007) more

• S.F.: Same-sex marriage ban gives gays, lesbians 'second-class' status: The state's ban on same-sex marriage tells lesbians and gay men that they are "second class citizens" inferior to sex offenders and prisoners, and it contributes to discrimination, the city of San Francisco argued today in asking the California Supreme Court to strike down the law. (4/2/2007) more

• Lesbian pair, country club reach terms on bias suit: A lesbian couple have settled their lawsuit against a country club, more than a year after the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the couple in a landmark anti-discrimination case. (1/25/2007) more

• California's new filing requirements For registered domestic partners: SB 1827 was signed into law on September 29, 2006, requiring registered domestic partners to file California tax returns jointly or separately, using the same standards applicable under federal law to married couples. These new filing requirements apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2007. (11/2006) more

• Westly Announces New Tax Law: Equal Treatment For Domestic Partners: State Controller and Franchise Tax Board Chair Steve Westly today announced new changes in California tax law that gives registered domestic partners the same tax filing status as married couples. (10/25/2006) more