on the same protections married couples take for granted, such as insurance benefits, bereavement leaves, and inheritance rights. These issues can be addressed through legislation to give people living together these rights, and the arrangement that results is called a domestic partnership. Some in the gay community, however, see the domestic partnership as an inherently second-class status that even at its best lacks the symbolic value of marriage.
Domestic partnership itself was unheard of a few years ago, but more recently it has been adopted by a handful of corporations and a dozen local governments across the country. There has been significant opposition to this sort of arrangement as well, largely from conservatives and religious groups. The sort of domestic arrangements addressed, however, have increased more than 400 percent since 1970, with more Americans living together outside marriage. Almost 3 million of the nation's 93 million households today consist of unmarried couples. The number of "tradit
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