California Bill Would Oust Children in
Lieu of Same-sex Partners

— April 19, 2002

This week, the California legislature continued what has become a pattern of behavior designed to undermine the legal status of marriage in the state. On Tuesday, the California Assembly’s Judiciary Committee approved legislation which would equate a registered domestic partner with a married spouse for purposes of inheritance where there is no will. In coming days the legislature will also consider a bill which would require foster parents to endorse and encourage a child's professed preference for homosexuality.

If passed by the full legislature, Assembly Bill 2216 would allow surviving registered domestic partners to interfere with the inheritance rights of children and other family members of a deceased domestic partner. If a deceased same-sex domestic partner has children from a previous marriage, those children will be deprived of their rightful share of their parent’s estate by the surviving domestic partner, even though there was no legal second marriage.

Numerous legal concerns are raised by this new legislation. Pro-marriage attorneys see the domestic partnership provisions as a clear violation of voter-approved Proposition 22 which states that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Despite the overwhelming support for Proposition 22 in the March 2000 election, interest groups represented in the Assembly have repeatedly tried to undercut the new law by enacting legislation to provide all of the benefits of marriage to relationships between unmarried persons. AB 2216 is another clear example of this trend.

Assembly Bill 2651 was also introduced this week. The bill would require that foster children be given “developmentally appropriate information and resources about sexuality and sexual health, including gay or lesbian issues." The bill would also require "sensitivity" training for foster parents and staff on "supporting foster care youth in coming out as gay or lesbian,” and set the goal of seeking out homosexual parents as potential foster parents.

Source: California Assembly Bill 2216; Citizen Link Daily Update April 18, 2002.