Opinion ID: 2576193
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Consequences of Allowing Plaintiffs' Claim to Proceed

Text: Lastly, in rejecting marital status as a category for purposes of Unruh Act protection, Beaty applied the third prong of the Harris test, which inquires about the consequences that will flow from permitting a plaintiff to proceed with a novel Unruh Act claim. ( Harris, supra, 52 Cal.3d at p. 1165, 278 Cal.Rptr. 614, 805 P.2d 873.) Beaty concluded that the consequence of allowing plaintiffs to proceed with their marital status discrimination claim would be that all de facto couples would be treated as a married unit in derogation of the strong policy in this state favoring marriage. ( Beaty, supra, 6 Cal.App.4th at p. 1465, 8 Cal.Rptr.2d 593, italics added.) In this case, however, allowing plaintiffs to proceed with their claim would not have this adverse consequence, because our ruling affects only registered domestic partners, not all unmarried couples. Moreover, the consequence of interpreting the Unruh Act to prohibit discrimination against domestic partners would have the positive effect of effectuating the Legislature's intent expressed in the Domestic Partner Act to create substantial legal equality between registered domestic partners and spouses.