Group Protests Bill on Domestic Partners

About 70 people protested outside Assemblyman Lou Correa’s Santa Ana office Friday morning, then marched into the building to urge him to vote against a bill relating to same-sex domestic partners’ rights in California.

Correa (D-Santa Ana) was not in at the time, so the protesters signed in at the front office, then left.

Headed by the Campaign for California Families, the group opposes Assembly Bill 25, created by Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), who successfully carried legislation two years ago to allow same-sex couples to register with the state as domestic partners. The new bill is a follow-up that would expand the rights to include allowing a person the right to sue for wrongful death, to adopt the children of his or her partner as a stepparent, and to seek medical insurance for a spousal-equivalent partner.

Randy Thomasson, executive director of Campaign for California Families, said the group is concerned that marriage is being diluted. “These bills cheapen marriage because it should only be between a man and a woman,” he said. “Marriage cannot be equated with any other partnership, nor should we give them special rights.”

Thomasson said such laws and programs to educate schoolchildren about homosexuality “send a message to young boys and girls to enter into a homosexual lifestyle.”

Correa has not decided how he will vote.

“I absolutely support a marriage between a man and a woman,” he said in a phone interview later. “But I also support providing health care to domestic partners. That’s the human thing to do.”

The bill is scheduled for a vote in the Assembly on Thursday.