캘리포니아주에서는 남편이 아내의 성을 따르는 것이 더 용이해질 전망

(California bill would make it easier for men to take wives' surnames)

캘리포니아주에서 결혼을 하는 경우에는 아내가 남편의 성(surname)을 따르려면 결혼증서에 사인만 하면 된다. 반대의 경우도 그럴까?  현재는 그렇게 쉽지 않다.

지난 월요일 의결된 법안에 따르면, 남성도 성(surname)을 변경하는데 있어 여성과 동일한 권리를 부여받게 된다. 남성의 성(surname)을 변경하기 위하여 법원에 가야하는 시간과 수고를 이제는 하지 않아도 되게 될 것이다.

이 법안은 또한 동거관계(domestic partnership)의 등록을 한 남성과 여성에게도 동일한 권리를 부여하고 있다.

이 법안은 하원을 찬성 45, 반대 22로 통과했으며, 상원에 계류 중이다.

현행법에 따르면, 아내의 성을 따르려는 남성은 법원에 청원을 하고, 수수료로 475달러를 지불하여야 하고, 지역에서 발간되는 신문에 공고를 한 후, 법정에 출두하여야 한다.

현행 캘리포니아주법은 미연방 14차수정헌법의 평등조항에 위반하는 것이라고 하여, 연방법원에 소송이 제기된 상태에 있다.

캘리포니아주에서 동거관계(domestic partnership)로 등록된 사람은 43,350명이라고 한다. 매년 남편이 아내의 성(surname)을 따르기 위해 법원에 청원을 하는지에 대한 통계는 아직 없다.

현재까지는 Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota주에서만 남성과 여성이 결혼하는 경우 상호 성(surname)변경에 관한 절차를 동일하게 하는 법률을 가지고 있다.

대변인에 따르면 Arnold Schwarzenegger 주지사는 이 법안에 대하여 아직 의견을 표명하지 않고 있다고 한다.

California bill would make it easier for men to take wives' surnames

(AP) - SACRAMENTO-When couples marry in California, the bride simply signs a marriage certificate to take her husband's surname. The other way around? Not so easy.  Under legislation approved Monday, men would be granted the same rights to change their surnames as women. It would eliminate the often time-consuming and costly process of going to court to change a man's last name.

The bill also would give men and women who register in a domestic partnership the same right.

"It just allows for married and domestic partner couples to choose the last name of their choosing," said the bill's author, Democratic Assemblywoman Fiona Ma of San Francisco.

Her bill passed the Assembly on a 45-22 vote and goes to the state Senate.

Under current law, a man who wants to take his wife's name must file a petition, pay about $475 (a?￢349) in fees, place a notice in a local newspaper and appear before a judge. Ma introduced the bill after a California couple, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a discrimination lawsuit earlier this year against the state.

Mike Buday and his wife, Diana Bijon, wanted to use Bijon's surname after they married in 2005. They said the process to do so violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The suit is pending in federal court.

"It takes California law and puts it on a time machine from the 15th century to the 21st century," Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in southern California, said in support of Ma's bill.

The Assembly approved the bill without any lawmaker speaking against it. But it was opposed by conservatives who were critical of the rights it would extend to same-sex couples.  Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine, California, said he initially sponsored the measure but withdrew his support after Ma expanded it to include domestic partners.

"When it was expanded, I got uncomfortable," DeVore said in an interview after the floor session. "I thought, 'We're going way too fast on overturning traditional society.'"

There are 43,350 registered domestic partners in California, according to the secretary of state's office. No agency keeps statewide statistics showing how many husbands petition to take their wives' surnames each year.

Only seven other states - Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota - have statutes establishing equal name-change processes for men and women when they marry, according to an analysis of the bill by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

In California, the rules governing name changes vary by county.

Many provide a line only for a woman to change her name. As a result, men have reported trouble using their marriage or domestic partnership certificates as proof of their new name when applying for a driver's license or state identification card, Ma said.

Her bill would require counties to use a form allowing a person to change his or her surname on either a marriage license application or a certificate of registered domestic partnership.

The measure also would help couples who want to hyphenate or combine their names. One of the more well-known examples is Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who went to court to combine his last name, Villar, with his wife's, Raigosa, when they married in 1987.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill, said his spokesman, Aaron McLear.