The Assembly voted 28-14 Sunday to override Gov. Jim Gibbons' veto and to change state law so that domestic partners, whether gay or straight, have many of the rights and benefits that Nevada offers to married couples.

The Assembly's vote -- the bare two-thirds majority needed -- followed the state Senate's vote a day earlier to enact the measure into state lawbooks over the conservative Republican governor's objections.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, termed SB283 the most important civil rights legislation she had voted upon while serving in the Legislature, adding the law change will ensure "justice for all, not justice for some."

Leslie said proponents of the new law were asking "that their government give them the ability to choose who they will live with and whom they will love."

SB283 provides that domestic partners have the same rights as married couples in matters such as community property and responsibility for debts. It also prohibits discrimination against domestic partners.

Critics contended that domestic partners can sign private contracts to accomplish many of the goals of SB283, and that it conflicted with the intent of Nevadans who voted in 2002 for a constitutional amendment supporting marriage between a man and a woman.

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