RACINE - Brent Nance spent almost a month in the hospital last year after suffering two seizures and a stroke on Thanksgiving Day. It was a scary time for Nance, 62, of Racine. It was a terrifying time for Paul, his partner of 28 years.

As Nance lay unconscious in a Milwaukee hospital, his partner searched for the legal documents they'd had written up that allow them to make medical and legal decisions for one another.

Since the hospital rejected the first document, which the two had prepared in California where they used to live, Nance's partner had to search for a similar document they'd had prepared in Wisconsin before he could make any life-and-death decisions on his behalf. It just so happens they didn't have to make any life-and-death decisions.

However, after the experience Nance is hailing the new state domestic partnership law that takes effect Monday as "a step in the right direction toward equality."

The law will grant same-sex couples some limited legal rights and protections and remove some of the obstacles that couples, like Nance and his partner, say they often experience.

"I think it still falls short of what we really need in Wisconsin, but it goes a long way to solving a lot of potential problems for people who do register," Nance said. "It's the first chance we've had as a state to say 'We don't stand for discrimination.' "

Legal battlesOpponents of the new domestic partner registry say opposing domestic partnership isn't discrimination. It is an issue of constitutional law, since for the past three years the Wisconsin Constitution has defined marriage as being between a man and woman and precludes any legal status that is similar to marriage, said Brian Raum, senior legal counsel with the Alliance

Defense Fund.

A legal challenge to the registry is pending with the state Supreme Court, Raum said.

He is representing three plaintiffs from Madison-based Wisconsin Family Action, who asked the court late last month to declare the registry unconstitutional and issue an injunction against it.

Raum's clients, including Julaine Appling, president of the Wisconsin Family Action, had a hand in amending the constitution. They say the domestic partnership registry is a direct violation of the constitutional amendment Wisconsin voters approved in November 2006.

"You can't dispute that the state is creating a legal status. The state is creating an institution which is similar in its design to marriage, and that is exactly what the people of Wisconsin voted on and intended to prevent by passing the Wisconsin Marriage Amendment," Raum said.

A separate challenge to the Wisconsin Marriage Amendment is currently working its way through the court as well.

A step forward

Three years ago, Fair Wisconsin fought unsuccessfully to defeat the constitutional amendment. Since then the organization has worked actively to enact domestic partnership legislation, said Executive Director Katie Belanger.

"The passage last month was a heartening development for so many couples around the state and our state as a whole," Belanger said. "This is the first piece of pro-fairness legislation passed in Wisconsin in 27 years. It's a really important step forward and a step toward equality."

In June, Wisconsin became the sixth state to recognize domestic partnerships in some form, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Gov. Jim Doyle included the designation in the state budget.

The law takes effect Monday, the first day that same-sex couples can register for domestic partnership at their county clerk's office.

Mixed reactionThere has been some mixed reaction among gay and lesbian couples to the change in the state law, said Bruce Joffe, executive director of the LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin. The center hosted a local attorney recently who spoke to a packed house about domestic partnership, what it means and other legal questions.

"There are some people that are conflicted for a variety of reasons. To some it's just like, 'Eh, they tossed me a bone,' " Joffe said. "It's a step in the right direction. It provides some protections. It provides some recognition."

There are 43 specific protections that Wisconsin's domestic partnership law grants to same-sex couples, compared to the 200 granted to married couples statewide, and the 1,100 granted to married couples under federal law, according to Fair Wisconsin.

"If I was to die without a will, but I am registered as a domestic partner, the state will now treat my partner as though he is the rightful heir," Joffe said. "One of the ones that grabbed a lot of us … for the first time our partners would be treated as though he or she were a spouse."

Opponents say that the new domestic partnership classification offers nothing that can't be accomplished by some other legal means. If couples want to, for instance, make sure that their property is transferred, they can create a will, Raum said.

Supporters of domestic partnerships, like Nance, say they hope to one day see the constitutional ban on gay marriage overturned. Doing so would take time. Amendments require majority votes in both houses of state Legislature over a two-year period before going to voters.

For now, he's still considering whether he and his partner will take advantage of the state's domestic partnership law.

"Paul is not a big one for imitating the legal marriage of straight couples," Nance said. "It's something I would like to consider and have an option for."

At a Glance

Domestic partnership in Wisconsin is a legal status providing same-sex couples who register as domestic partners with certain limited legal protections.

These include:

Inheritance and survivor protections

A surviving domestic partner:

Inherits from the estate of a domestic partner who dies without a will.

Can be awarded the couple's home and vehicles that are titled in the name of the deceased partner, as well as personal and household items of the deceased partner, by a probate court.

May have certain protections against creditors.

Family and medical leave

Employees who are covered by the state Family Medical Leave Act may take up to two weeks off per year to care for a domestic partner with a serious medical condition.

Medical, hospital and visitation rights

Domestic partners get certain privileges in medical settings to visit, admit an incapacitated partner to a health care facility, share a nursing home room and access mental health records. These apply to hospitals, hospice facilities, group homes, nursing homes and residential care facilities.

If a domestic partner dies, the surviving partner can consent to organ donation or autopsy.

Other protections

A domestic partner can prevent his or her partner or former partner from testifying against the person as to private communications during the partnership.

Transfers of real estate between domestic partners are exempt from the real estate transfer fee, as well as car and boat titles.

For a full summary of the domestic partnership protections, see the Legislative Fiscal Bureau paper at http://www.legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/2009-11Budget/Budget%20Papers/391.pdf

Source: Fair Wisconsin

Wisconsin Marriage AmendmentIn November 2006, 60 percent of Wisconsin voters approved an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution defining marriage:

"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state." - Wisconsin Constitution; Article XIII, Section 13

Source: Wisconsin Family Action

Around the NationStates that issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples:

Massachusetts, Connecticut, California*, Iowa**, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire.

States that recognize same-sex marriages from other states:

Rhode Island, New York, District of Columbia.

States that allow civil unions, providing state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples:

Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire.

States where law provides nearly all state-level spousal rights to unmarried couples (domestic partnerships):

California, Oregon, Washington

Statewide law provides some state-level spousal rights to unmarried couples (domestic partnerships):

Hawaii, Maine, District of Columbia, Wisconsin

* The California Supreme Court ruled on May 15, 2008, that same-sex couples have the right to marry in California. Proposition 8, which limits marriage to one man and one woman, was passed on Nov. 4, 2008. The decision was appealed. Same-sex marriages performed before Proposition 8 was passed will remain valid, but same-sex marriages are no longer performed in California.

** The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on April 3 that same-sex couples have the right to marry in Iowa beginning April 24.

Source: The National Conference of State Legislatures