Dozens of Benton County couples register as domestic partners

By 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, 14 same sex couples had participated in Oregon’s new domestic partnership registry at the Benton County Courthouse. According to courthouse staff, the process was going smoothly, and couples had to wait little to no time in order to fill out their registry applications.

Some couples brought an entourage of friends and family to attend the event, others were content to simply fill out the paperwork together and receive their domestic partnership certificates. Several of the couples had participated in previous commitment ceremonies or other events to mark their partnership, but all expressed excitement at the state’s recognition of their unions.

Originally, the Oregon law allowing domestic partnership registry was supposed to take effect Jan. 1, but a judge’s decision delayed the inactment of the law. Many couples learned late Friday afternoon that the judge had ruled to allow the registry to go forward, and some couples adjusted their work schedules in order to fill out paperwork for the registry Monday morning.

For a full story about Monday’s local domestic partnership events, see Tuesday’s edition of the Gazette-Times