While the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act does not directly impact a local city councilman's efforts to provide benefits to domestic partners, it could in the future. Coeur d'Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin (pictured) has been working with the city's Human Resource Department for the past couple of months to determine if the city could begin offering benefits to domestic partners who have lived together for several years, but never married. "We don't have any same sex couples that I am aware of yet," Gookin said Wednesday. "What I am doing deals with domestic partners, who for whatever reason may have so many entanglements in their lives they cannot get married. "The only difference between them and a married couple is a piece of paper"/Jeff Selle, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Should the city of Coeur d'Alene make it a high priority to provide benefits to same-sex partners?