Las Vegas men get domestic partnership certificate No. 1

CARSON CITY — Tears fell from the eyes of Las Vegans Larry Davis and Lee W. Cagley today as they were handed domestic partnership certificate No. 1 by Secretary of State Ross Miller in the Capitol.

“We feel very fortunate,” said Cagley, an interior designer who redesigned the Governor’s Mansion in its original 1909 style when Miller’s mother, Sandy, was Nevada’s first lady.

“Someone had to be No. 1,” responded Ross Miller, a grin on his face.

His mother, who watched the couple receive their certificate, just smiled.

So far, 746 same- and opposite-sex couples have received domestic partnership certificates from the secretary of state’s offices in Las Vegas and Carson City.

Under a law that went into effect today, the couples gain virtually all the rights and responsibilities as married couples, although they are not considered married under state law.

Cagley and Davis, who is a funeral director, said the right to make decisions for each other is important to them.

“If he got in a car accident, I could make medical decisions for him, visit him in the hospital with no hassle,” Cagley said.

“Why does it have to be me in the car accident?” Davis asked jokingly.

Besides being domestic partners, Cagley and Davis were legally married on Aug. 3, 2008, in California. Nevada law does not recognize same-sex marriages from California and other states.

Las Vegans Earl Shelton and Richard Kuta, who had announced earlier in the week that they would have a commitment ceremony at midnight today in the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas, backed off from that ceremony. They still will receive their domestic partnership certificate from the secretary of state.

Commitment ceremonies are not required under the state law, although many couples likely will have them.

Cagley said he and Davis had a commitment ceremony in Nevada two years ago.

“We consider ourselves married,” he added.

State Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, the sponsor of the domestic partner law, said the number of Nevadans filing so far is three times what he expected.

Parks added he expects about 2,500 couples will secure the partnerships by the end of 2010.

In other states with domestic partner contracts, about 60 percent of the couples are women, according to Park, who was on hand in the Capitol as domestic partnership certificates were handed out. Most couples, however, had them mailed to them.

So far, only a handful of opposite-sex couples have received domestic partnership certificates.

One benefit for them, according to Parks, is they could transfer property to each other without paying the state real estate transfer tax. They also could transfer the ownership of cars without paying sales taxes.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.