BALIF

For the first time in its near 70-year history, the Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations approved BALIF’s resolution to redefine marriage as between two persons on its consent calendar at the 2007 Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations, held at the State Bar Conference in Anaheim in September. In the past, the Conference had passed BALIF’s resolution to redefine marriage, but only after lengthy and often heated debate. In a surprise move, the conservative Orange County Bar Association Delegation took “no position” on BALIF’s proposed resolution, which was a marked departure from the delegation’s many years of opposition to BALIF’s efforts to bring about marriage equality.

However, BALIF’s Delegation (Jo Hoenninger, John Kennedy, and Shay Aaron Gilmore) was not content to sit back and rest on its laurels. The biggest issue at the 2007 Conference, from an LGBT perspective, was Emergency Late File Proposed Resolution No. 3, offered by the same Orange County delegation. This resolution would amend Family Code Section 4337 to explicitly terminate spousal support to a former spouse if the former spouse registers as a domestic partner under state law.

This resolution was drafted in direct response to a current case pending before the California Supreme Court in which a former spouse’s husband asserted that spousal support to his former wife should be terminated after she entered into a domestic partnership with another woman. The BALIF Delegation argued that since domestic partnership is not marriage, the supported ex-spouse should continue to receive spousal support even after entering into a domestic partnership. Further, if California is serious about addressing the issue of termination of spousal support, then the Governor should sign the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (AB 43) that has been passed by the State Legislature for the last two years. (Governor Schwarzenegger recently vetoed this bill.)

Moreover, the BALIF Delegation argued that, since domestic partners do not receive the numerous other benefits that married couples enjoy, including tax benefits, the continuation of spousal support for persons who register as domestic partners acts as an offset. After a lengthy debate, BALIF, joined by the Bar Association of San Francisco, did not prevail. The resolution was passed by the Conference. However, the BALIF Delegation did have the opportunity to educate Conference delegates on the most important issue facing LGBT couples today.

After the Conference, the BALIF Delegation put in a request for continued lobbying on BALIF’s marriage resolution, particularly lobbying the Governor since he had not yet vetoed AB 43. Jo Hoenninger and John Kennedy also publicly thanked the Conference for voting in BALIF’s marriage resolution and asked everyone to call the Governor to show their support.

If you would like to join the BALIF team at a future conference, or if you would like to help draft resolutions for next year’s conference, contact Kelly McCown at statebar@balif.org.