In this issue:
News From Around the World
Bookstore
Media Watch
Recent and Upcoming Workshops
Wish List
Thanks!

News From Around the World

Michigan Supports Unmarrieds' Rights
Overturning decisions by three lower courts, the Michigan Supreme Court found that a landlord who refused to rent apartments to a pair of unmarried couples unlawfully discriminated against them because of their marital status. The case began in 1993, when landlord John Hoffius turned away the two couples because, as he said: "God didn't intend for man and woman to live together out of wedlock. For me to knowingly rent to those people, it would be hypocritical." The court decided that the state's laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of marital status make the landlord's actions illegal. This makes Michigan the fourth state to make such a decision: the other three are Alaska, California, and Massachusetts. (Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and Washington have ruled that marital status discrimination laws only protect single people, not unmarried couples).

DP Benefits Added in Ohio and California
Columbus has become the first city in Ohio to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of its unmarried employees. The Columbus City Council unanimously approved legislation that provides medical, dental, vision and prescription drug insurance coverage for domestic partners and allows city employees to use sick leave and family medical leave for their partners. It allows unmarried same-sex or opposite-sex couples the same benefits as those given to the spouses of married employees. Lakewood, OH is considering becoming the second city in the state to offer DP benefits. The City Council of Petaluma, California voted unanimously on January 5 to extend spousal benefits to the domestic partners of its unmarried employees, regardless of gender. It's the first city in Sonoma County to do so.

Credit Unions Expand Definition of Family
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) board last week expanded eligibility requirements for millions of people currently excluded from membership: unrelated people in the same household as credit union members. This includes "any person who is a permanent member or participates in the maintenance of the household." Typical examples include unmarried couples living together, gay and lesbian couples, live-in housekeepers or nursing-care professionals and virtually anyone else who lives in the household and contributes economic or other support. This has special significance for people needing a home mortgage because nonprofit credit unions are often able to provide home loans at lower rates.

New Jersey Town, Florida County, and States of CO and CA Consider DP Benefits
Morristown, New Jersey Mayor Jay DeLaney wants his town to become the first in New Jersey to offer health benefits to the same-sex or opposite-sex unmarried partners of municipal employees. The proposal would have to be sponsored by a council member and approved before it becomes policy. They mayor said he believes failure to extend health benefits appears to conflict with the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. A bill has been introduced in Colorado to give "committed partners" certain inheritance rights. The bill only includes same-sex partners. The bill would allow partners to inherit as spouses do from a deceased spouse. A proposed ordinance in Broward County, Florida would provide medical coverage to same and opposite-sex partners of county employees to the same extent as other employees and allow unmarried couples to legally register as domestic partners. The measure also would require contractors that handle at least $50,000 in business with the county to offer health benefits to partners of their own workers. Three California lawmakers have introduced domestic partnership bills for same-sex couples into the state legislature. Although former Governor Pete Wilson vetoed every domestic partner bill that landed on his desk during his two terms, Gov. Davis says he is supportive.

Marriage Going Out of Style in France?
Two out of every five babies in France are now being born out of wedlock, compared to just six percent of babies three decades ago, state statistical agency INSEE reported on Thursday. The upward trend in babies born outside marriage coincides with a steady decline in the marriage rate in France, INSEE said, noting that today, one in every six couples is unmarried.

And in England, Too!
The majority of British adults will be unmarried within 12 years according to the government's official statistician. The decrease reflects not so much an increase in the divorce rate as a sharp rise in the number of people choosing never to marry. The Government Actuary predicted that the number of married adults would fall from current levels of 55 per cent to 48 per cent by 2011 and to 45 per cent by 2021.

Canadian Gay Group Sues To Update Laws
A Toronto-based gay organization sued the federal government to try to force the rewriting of 58 laws that don't grant equal rights to gay and lesbian couples. The Foundation of Equal Families is trying to win the right to everything from prison conjugal visits to the same income tax entitlements that heterosexual couples enjoy. The group's spokesperson said they took the unusual step of including all 58 challenges under the same lawsuit because the alternative -- fighting them one at a time -- would have proved too costly and time-consuming. "We've been doing them one by one and we're tired of it," he said.

Penn State Rejects DPs
Half of the universities in the Big Ten conference offer domestic partner benefits to their employees' same-gender partners, but PennylvaniaState University will not be joining them. Although the faculty senate had been nearly unanimous in requesting the benefits last month, and the university estimated the cost at a trifling 0.3% of the school's annual budget, the University's president says he is concerned about a lack of support in the state legislature. According to Faculty Benefits Committee chair professor Greg Farber, Penn State has already been paying a price in faculty who left the school and new applicants who went elsewhere because of the lack of benefits for gay and lesbian couples.

Bookstore

As we learned from our recent survey, 76% of you are interested in learning about legal issues affecting unmarried people. Well, we've recommended our favorite legal guides so many times we decided it was time to open our own bookstore.

We're now officially licensed to sell books, and we have our first copies in stock. You can buy these books from us, and the profits support our work. Best of all, we'll throw in shipping for free!

We currently have two excellent books available, both published by Nolo Press. We are selling them for list price, the same thing you would pay in a bookstore:

The Living Together Kit: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples
by Attorneys Toni Ihara and Ralph Warner
This user-friendly book, written by two attorneys who lived together as an unmarried couple for 19 years, is the best legal guide we've seen on this subject. It contains chapters on renting and buying a home, parenting issues, wills and estate planning, and sample living together agreements for a variety of situations. We use our copy all the time. $24.95

A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples
by Attorneys Hayden Curry, Denis Clifford, and Robin Leonard
This book is an in-depth, accessible guide to protecting yourself as a same-sex couple. It includes information on medical emergencies, financial matters, par enting, wills, buying a home, and sample contracts for your relationship. $24.95

To order either book, tell us which one and how many copies you'd like, and send us a check payable to ATMP. Sorry, we cannot accept credit cards at this time. Mail payment with your mailing address to: ATMP, P.O. Box 991010, Boston, MA 02199.

Media Watch

Radio Interview
If you missed us on GenderTalk last month, the hour-long program (we're in the second half) is now online. You can hear it at http://www.3dcom.com/gt/gt184.html

Our article "Unmarried Bliss: Living Happily Ever After Doesn't Necessarily Require a Marriage License" appeared January 8th in the Providence Phoenix. It's available online, too (minus the photos and sidebars), at http://www.providencephoenix.com/archive/features/99/01/07/MARRIAGE.html

Upcoming and Recent Workshops

Last Week: Rhode Island
On Saturday we gave a "Happiness Without Wedding Bells" workshop in Providence, Rhode Island. The audience seemed extremely positive, and they enthusiastically shared their diverse experiences. The idea of a "life plan" people expect to follow (and expect their children to follow) was a recurring theme: for many, not getting married, getting divorced, or having their children choose not to marry feels like a major disruption of an expected life plan.

Upcoming: New Jersey/New York/Connecticut
We will be presenting our "Happiness Without Wedding Bells: Considering Alternatives to Marriage" workshop at the Tri-State Regional Bisexual Conference. The conference will take place February 5-7, 1999, in New Brunswick, NJ on Douglass College campus at Rutgers University. For more information, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , voicemail (732) 246-3769, or visit http://www.biconf.org .

The Future
It's always wonderful to continue the conversation about the issues facing unmarried people with different groups around the country. We would love to speak in your city or at an upcoming conference you know about! E-mail or call us to discuss the possibilities.

Wish List

We would love donations of:
Postal meter
Macintosh computer (with monitor, keyboard and mouse) capable of running Word 6.0.
Logo designer/graphic designer/artist to help with logo and/or web page images

Thanks!

Many thanks to Tom Coleman and Goldie and Les Solot for their donations to ATMP.
Thanks, too, to Peter Hill for his donation of copy machines, to Goldie and Les Solot for their donation of a paper cutter, and to Margie and Ted Nickles for their donation of a computer!