by David Boaz

About the author: David Boaz is the executive vice president of the Cato Institute, a libertarian public policy research organization that advocates limited government.

New York’s new Governor, George Pataki, plans to reverse [former governor] Mario Cuomo’s policy of granting health benefits to the domestic partners of all unmarried state employees. Mr. Pataki is part of a rising political tide that includes Gov. Pete Wilson of California, who said in vetoing his state’s domestic partnership bill that “government policy ought not to discount marriage by offering a substitute relationship that demands much less.”

Two Kinds of Domestic Partnerships

That’s legitimate, but it overlooks that there are two kinds of domestic partnerships—heterosexual and same-sex. Although the most vocal opposition to...