THOUGH THEY CAN'T WED, GAYS MAY NOW DIVORCE IN CA: From the Los Angeles Times

Gays and lesbians still can't marry in California. But starting today, the more than 26,000 couples registered with the state as domestic partners will have to divorce if they split up.

If they have children, they will automatically receive a wide array of parental rights. Community property suddenly applies, just as for married spouses.

The changes are part of a law, put on the books by the Legislature and former Gov. Gray Davis in September 2003 but going into effect only now, that greatly expands California's 5-year-old experiment with domestic partnerships. ...

To Olivia Higgins, 30, and Jackie Kiang, 35, the law has practical consequences. It means that Higgins can place the baby Kiang is expecting in a few weeks on her health insurance at work, even though she is not the birth mother.

When Kiang, a physician, has the baby, Higgins' name will go on the birth certificate as the second parent, although the state has yet to print gender-neutral forms. ...

All that is more than some couples bargained for when they registered their partnerships. In recent months, the number of couples getting off the state's registry has increased.

Oakland attorney Frederick Hertz and his partner decided to terminate their registered partnership in November. Both are professionals with their own health insurance and other benefits, and they have worked out their financial relationship through other legal agreements. They have no children. The possibility of unforeseen tax consequences from the new law motivated their decision, said Hertz, the coauthor of a legal guide for gay men and lesbians who has been advising clients on the new law.

There are other reasons why remaining registered may no longer make sense, legal experts said.

Many state benefit programs -- MediCal, for example -- are available only to people with low incomes. Until now, if someone on the registry applied, the state could not consider the partner's income. Now, both incomes will count, just as for a married couple. ...

Sociologists have suggested that the rights and responsibilities of marriage benefit both partners, Hertz said: If you are liable for your partner's debts, you may pay more attention to his spending patterns, and if you are entitled to half his income, you may be more supportive of his long work hours. "What's going to be interesting is to see if the application of marital laws to gay people starts fostering the same kind of behavior in the gay community," he said.

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