Basically, a domestic partnership is a publicly recognized consent between heterosexual or homosexual couples to share the cost of living expenses. The consent also serves as a symbolic commitment to monogamy for many gays. However, many people qualify for the domestic partnership status under its vague specifications. "What constitutes a 'domestic partner'" questions Brent Hartinger. "Could roommates qualify? A woman and her live-in maid? It could take an array of judicial decision making to find out" (p. 57).
This 'separate but equal' attempt is, in truth, not at all an equal alternative to marriage. It is an agreement proposed by some cities to provide their unmarried municipal workers with bereavement leave and other benefits. However, the benefits offered are only a small part of the privileges entitled to married couples, and are available to only a small number of gay and lesbian couples in several cities.
Furthermore, not only does a domestic partnership deny homosexual couples many rights, it is a statement that gay relationships are sub-normal, which is discriminatory. The widespread belief that homosexuality is 'wrong' causes many gays to live lives filled with alienation and separation from society. .
Often, these emotions arise when homosexuals are very young, and society's stigmas begin to cause them to feel shame, lonliness, and rejection. The Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide discovered that "suicide is the leading cause of death among gay male, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual youth" (Blumenfeld, 88.) To ease their depression, they sometimes turn to suicide, and often turn to drugs, alcohol, and promiscuousness. A study found that 40 percent of the adolescents on Seattle's streets are lesbian or gay (Hartinger, p. 60). Most of these juveniles had either run away or been disowned by intolerant parents. Through legalizing gay marriage, America would be providing gays with a recognized place in society, and in turn, begin to end the discrimination of which they are suffering.