Wisconsin’s Gov. Doyle asks court to declare domestic partner registry constitutional

An attorney for Gov. Jim Doyle recently filed a motion asking that his state’s domestic partner registry be declared constitutional.

In June ’09, Gov. Doyle signed the same-sex domestic partnership registry into law as a provision of the ’10-’11 state budget. The motion, filed in Dane County, aims to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the registry’s socially conservative opponents. That challenge, filed earlier this year argues the registry is a violation of the state’s constitutional ban on marriage equality.

Doyle proposed the registry as a way to grant same-sex couples more legal rights, such as the right to visit each other in hospitals, make end-of-life decisions and inherit each other’s property. The Democratic-controlled Legislature approved the registry and it went into effect in August 2009. By the end of the year 1,329 couples had signed up.