Same-sex couples in Wis. sign up as domestic partners

A handful of gay couples lined up hours before county clerk's offices in Wisconsin opened Monday, their first chance to sign up for the state's domestic partnership registry.

First in line at the Dane County Clerk's office in Madison were Janice Czyscon, 56, and her partner of 29 years, Crystal Hyslop, 57. They arrived just after 5 a.m. dressed in identical white dress shirts and black slacks.

"It's a great day. It's hard to believe," Czyscon said. "This is historic."

Wisconsin became the first Midwestern state to enact protections for gay couples through legislation when Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed the state budget on June 29.

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Provisions in the spending plan granted same-sex couples dozens of the same legal protections as spouses, including hospital visitation, inheritance, and medical leave rights.

About 20 people had lined up in the hallway outside Dane County Clerk Robert Ohlsen's office by 7:30 a.m., but the promise of long-awaited legal benefits didn't appear to draw an immediate flood of applicants elsewhere in the state.

Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarneki said his office had taken about a half-dozen applications. Brown County Clerk Darlene Marcelle had taken six applications as well.

Clerks in Superior and La Crosse said they hadn't seen any applicants as of 9 a.m. or so.

Ohlsen's office didn't open until 8 a.m., but he set out coffee for the couples and handed out registration forms early. Couples sang "We're going to the courthouse and we're going to get registered," a play on the Dixie Cups' tune "Chapel of Love."

The line broke into cheers as Ohlsen opened his doors at 8 a.m. and ushered Czyscon and Hyslop in to fill out the paperwork. When they emerged Hyslop, who carried a purse with a rainbow flap, was choked up.

"I'm almost crying," she said. Czyscon high-fived others in line as the couple left.

The budget that established the registry also made Wisconsin the first state to grant such rights despite a ban on gay marriage or any similar relationship in the state constitution.

A group of social conservatives want the domestic partnership registry invalidated, however, saying it conflicts with the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage. They've asked the state Supreme Court to strike down the registry.

The court hasn't said whether it will take the case, but supporters maintain the registry will stand because it stops short of full marriage rights.

"It's a long cry from marriage," Hyslop said.