Monday marks an historic victory for gay rights activists in Wisconsin. Same-sex couples can begin registering for domestic partnerships, giving them many of the same rights as spouses. The change is a major landmark for one Beloit couple looking forward to a legal union.

"It's taken me 15 years to tell somebody I love them and I'm not letting him go," says Randy Gurney, while he and Dave Pender work side by side opening up shop at Club Impulse in Beloit.
The couple has been together seven months and last Tuesday, they made each other a promise.

"I said I love you forever and a day and he says I love you too and I opened up the ring and I asked him if he would do it forever and he said yes!" says Gurney.

They're planning a commitment ceremony within two years. But starting Monday they have an option to make their relationship legal, as Wisconsin begins recognizing same-sex domestic partnerships.

"We need our rights too and we, you know, deserve them," says Gurney. 'We're all human, we're all equal. We have that opportunity now and we're going to take it."

Domestic partnerships include a string of new rights, like power of attorney for health, financial and property issues. Some health care plans allow a same-sex partner as a dependent. People can take medical leave from work to care for a partner and domestic partners can visit each other in the hospital. That was previously banned because gay and lesbian couples were not considered family.

"That's a giant step. You know you're going to regret that the rest of your life, not being able to be there at that time with him if something does happen," says Gurney.

But a domestic partnership is not a marriage and certain rights are still reserved for married couples. Those include sharing property, filing a joint tax return and joint rights over children.

Gurney and Pender do plan to have kids and they hope to have full legal rights by then. Gurney says, "We want to be able to be married and recognized in that sense too."

Anyone who wants to register for a domestic partnership must bring a certified birth certificate to their courthouse, along with a current photo ID, proof of residence and, if previously married, proof of how the union ended.

The Wisconsin Family Council filed a lawsuit with the state supreme court asking them to declare the registry unconstitutional. Activists believe it violates the gay marriage amendment ratified in 2006, because that banned anything "substantially similar" to marriage.

We also tried to contact local representatives from the Catholic church for their reactions but could not reach anyone.