Bay City News Service reports that California Gov. Gray Davis has signed legislation that allows Marin County's Board of Supervisors to adopt resolutions that provide survivor benefits for domestic partners of county employees.
The bill clears the way for the Boards of Supervisors in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties to pass similar resolutions.
Parent Law Survey
The Human Rights Campaign has unveiled a new survey of custody and visitation laws affecting LGBT parents. The state-by-state survey examines custody and visitation laws, and reveals trends.
"We found that many states are taking important steps toward equality in their laws affecting LGBT custody and visitation rights," said Lisa Bennett, who runs HRC FamilyNet, HRC Foundation's LGBT family project.
According to the survey, at www.hrc.org/familynet, 21 states and D.C. have good records...courts in those states generally do not discriminate based on sexual orientation or have laws prohibiting such discrimination. Among the states with the best records: New Jersey, Delaware and Washington. Nine have bad records, with Alabama, North Carolina and Utah among the worst.
In states where courts have heard disputes involving trans parents, Colorado and Montana had a good record while Nevada and Oregon had bad records.