"And there is no state in the country that provides domestic partner benefits to all government employees."

He signed the union's first agreement with the state to provide domestic partner benefits in September 1994.

He tried to cut state funding to universities that offer domestic partner benefits.

A slowly growing number of cities and companies have been providing domestic partner benefits.

The company previously offered domestic partner benefits to its employees, under a policy which was canceled in 1998.

Currently about one-third of companies with more than 500 employees offer domestic partner benefits.

"It may be why so few couples take advantage of domestic partner benefits when they are available."

Sometimes those issues did not argue for marriage, especially if couples already shared property and had domestic partner benefits.

The focus of most domestic partner benefits seems to be health care, but many also cross over into life insurance, family leave, and other areas.