Domestic Partnership For Same-Sex Couples Upheld in WI

It's not marriage, but it's something

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals today upheld the state's law granting domestic partnership protections to same-sex couples.

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed an amicus brief on behalf of five couples who stood to lose crucial protections such as hospital visitation, the ability to make certain decisions about medical care and to access family medical leave if the law is overturned.

"Committed same-sex couples in Wisconsin only want the peace of mind of being able to protect and provide for each other like any other married couple," said John Knight, staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project. "Because they are denied the freedom to marry, these couples just wanted to hold on to the limited protections afforded to them by the domestic partnership law. To strip them of these would have been cruel and unjust."