Of the five couples who have registered locally, three are affiliated with the schools, and two with the town, according to Personnel Director Gerry Hayes. Three of the couples are homosexual and two are heterosexual couples, he added. The domestic partnership bylaw in Brookline has been effective since June 24.
The number of town employees who have registered as domestic partners in Brookline so far is much fewer than had been originally anticipated, Hayes added. Before the domestic partnership bylaw was passed at Town Meeting last year, there were concerns among some in local government about potentially high costs to the town if a large number of couples registered.
In Cambridge, which adopted a law in 1992 extending health benefits to domestic partners of city officials, 388 couples have registered, according to the city clerk's office. Cambridge officials did not have a breakdown of their domestic partners by the number of homosexual and heterosexual couples. However, Town Counsel David Turner said a study done before Brookline adopted its bylaw revealed a higher number of heterosexual domestic partners in Cambridge.
In Brookline, any active or retired town employee is eligible to fill out a domestic partnership application in Town Clerk Patrick Ward's office.
"The remarkable thing is that it's turned out to not be that much of an issue," said Hayes.
Turner, one of the architects of Brookline's domestic partnership bylaw, said he expects more applications to be fielded by the town as time passes.
"It will take a while for people to decide whether or not they want to register," he said. "It's a commitment to a serious relationship, whether it's a same- or different-gender relationship, and people don't take that lightly."
When applicants fill out a domestic partnership application, they do so under the pains and penalties of perjury, said Turner. However, there are no local mechanisms currently available for determining whether or not domestic partners meet the bylaw's legal requirements.
"If somebody wanted to abuse the bylaw, I'm sure we'd hear about it," he said. "I don't think that's likely."
Mary Banauto, civil rights director for the New England Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said allowing both same- and opposite-sex domestic partners to be covered under their partner's health insurance is a basic issue of equity and fairness.
"It is absolutely something that more cities and towns are doing now, as well as private businesses," said Banauto. "It signals that you are an employer that is receptive to all sorts of families."
Banauto added, however, that the rights afforded under domestic partnership bylaws should not be misunderstood as allowing the same rights and responsibilities as marriage.
In Massachusetts alone, there are hundreds of rights under marriage - including tax benefits and control over the body of a deceased spouse - that are not covered by domestic partnership laws, she said.
"It's not about eroding marriage, it's about workplace fairness," she said.
Banauto, who consulted with several authors of the domestic partnership bylaw in Brookline before it was drafted, lauded the town's bylaw as a good piece of legislation.