LAGUNA BEACH : Domestic Partners Law Lures 100 People

When Laguna Beach passed an ordinance in May allowing unmarried couples to register as domestic partners, Mayor Robert F. Gentry issued an open invitation to people far and wide to take advantage of the new law.

So far, 100 people have responded to Gentry’s call, including some couples from as far away as New York.

In fact, city officials said, more than half of the people who have paid the $25 fee to have their unions registered in Laguna Beach live outside the city limits. Some are not even from California, including a New York couple who are scheduled to have their partnership registered next month.

According to city officials, most of the participants have been same-sex partners eager to validate their relationships. No state in the country recognizes the union of gay or lesbian couples.

The ceremonies are marked by much of the same kind of celebration as formal weddings.

“People often come in here very dressed up,” City Clerk Verna L. Rollinger said. “We’ve had people wearing matching boutonnieres or corsages.”

One Long Beach couple sent out wedding invitation-style notices and 15 to 20 friends showed up to witness the signing. The party squeezed into Rollinger’s small office or hovered near the door during the ceremony and then snapped dozens of photographs before dashing off to celebrate at Las Brisas restaurant.

About 20 minutes after the ceremony ended, a friend of the couple’s appeared at Rollinger’s office.

“He said, ‘I’m too late for the wedding, but do you possibly know where the reception is?’ ” she said. “And I did.”

But if the ceremonies have the earmarks of nuptials, the domestic partners document, valid only in Laguna Beach, carries little of the legal powers of a traditional marriage certificate.

It does however, extend some of the privileges to homosexual or unmarried heterosexual couples that married couples enjoy. For example, the certificate grants unmarried couples the right to visit their companions in a hospital or jail. In cases of death, it also enables the surviving partner to make funeral arrangements.

Rollinger said most of the couples who have signed the certificates have been “extremely appreciative” for the opportunity.

“Based on my observations, the thought and effort people have put into doing this indicates they consider it a commitment to take seriously,” she said. ‘It’s been a very nice experience to provide a service that makes people so very happy.”

However, not everyone is driven by the purest of motives. “We had one couple whose stated purpose for obtaining their certificate was so that she would be able to convince the Price Club to put her on his membership card,” Rollinger said. “They promised to report whether they were successful and so far we have not heard.”