MADISON, Wis. -- Same-sex couples in Wisconsin can begin registering for the state's new domestic partner benefits registry on Monday.

Experts said that they expect thousands of couples will register in the first year alone. Monday is the first day to register. County clerks are preparing for lines of same-sex couples who waited years for the state to recognize their relationships.

The registry grants rights to receive survivorship and inheritance rights the ability to visit an ailing partner in a hospital and take family medical leave. These partnerships only provide 43 of those more than 200 rights held by married couples, WISC-TV reported.

One local same-sex couple said that while they hope for the day they can legally marry in Wisconsin, they believe this moment is a significant step in the right direction. Same-sex couples like Kim Whalen and Kathy Cox have spent years feeling a bit like a political volleyball -- getting bounced back and forth across the net -- on the fight for equal rights.

"It's almost like getting your hopes up, getting your hopes up, getting your hopes up, and someone pulls the rug out. And then you do it again and pulls the rug out," Cox said.

Despite, they both said they plan to register as domestic partners on Tuesday, a move which serves as an official declaration of their love and life together.

"We both feel pretty excited 'cause we've been waiting a long, long time for this. We've been together 21 years now," said Kim Whalen.

"It's monumental," Cox said. "We don't really have a good grasp of it yet 'cause we kind of need to experience and live it and feel it. It's just kind of surreal right now. It's like, 'Is this really going to happen?"

Although to many, the registry might seem the winds of change are blowing at the state Capitol, attorney Scott Mickelson, who helps same-sex couples negotiate legal issues, points out it's more like a slight breeze.

"We're on the bus, but we're perhaps on the back of the bus. We have a fifth of the rights that are granted under state law to opposite sex couples when they get married," he said.

Among the rights not included in the recognized partnership is the ability for one partner to adopt the other's child as opposite sex couples can do as step-parents. While there is option for annulment in the partnerships, there's no provision for divorce. Mickelson said that there also isn't any court process to have all of the property rights that are usually entangled in the course of a relationship undone.

Yet, Mickelson said that he strongly encourages couples who are ready to take the step to register.

Wisconsin is the first Midwestern state to enact protections for same-sex couples through legislation. Gov. Jim Doyle proposed the plan, and the Democratic-controlled Legislature approved it in the state budget.

A group of social conservatives want the law invalidated, saying it conflicts with the state's constitutional ban.

The Wisconsin Family Council has filed a lawsuit asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to invalidate the registry on the grounds that it's substantially similar to marriage as banned by voters.

Officials with Fair Wisconsin, a group supporting the registry, said that the councils' contention isn't the case as these partnerships only provide some of those rights held by married couples.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.

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