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SOU women Ashland's first registered `partners' Photo by Jim Craven Lana Kirby, left, and Gabrielle Wright of Ashland are the first couple to register as domestic partners in Oregon. By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- When they met at a Christian college three years ago, it was love at first sight. "I felt like I met my soul mate when I first met her," Gabrielle Wright, 23, said of her partner, Lana Kirby, 21. "I found a peace." Wednesday, the Ashland couple was the first to register as domestic partners in Oregon. The Ashland City Council approved a domestic partner registry Oct. 5. Although several other cities and counties in other states also register couples as domestic partners, Ashland was the first to establish a registry for same-sex couples in Oregon. Under Oregon law, same-sex couples cannot marry. Wednesday was the first day couples could register. Wright and Kirby -- students at Southern Oregon University -- showed up just before 1 p.m., the time designated for the city to begin registering couples. One other couple, two men, registered later in the afternoon Wednesday. Both Kirby and Wright wore skirts and sturdy black shoes with thick workmanlike soles. Their friend Gina Fourmet came along to shoot pictures with her Freedom Zoom 65. "They are two of the best people I know," Fourmet said. "Anytime two people I know want to bond in love, that's a great thing. "Lana and Gabrielle really put their relationship first, but still respect each other and who they are as individuals." After waiting a few moments for the municipal court office to open, the three people went into the judge's chambers for the document signing. A clerk, who also is a notary, asked Kirby and Wright to produce two pieces of identification each. Driver's licenses and university identification were passed across a glass-topped wooden desk. The women were given the choice of having their union documented by the city as public record, or to keep the registry private and simply take a document with them as they left. They chose to be listed publicly. Kirby fiddled with Wright's bracelet during the 15-minute procedure. The soft pop sound of Del Amitri's song "Roll to Me" wafted into the room from an adjoining office. They silently read a declaration that pledged they were each other's sole domestic partner and responsible for each other's common welfare. Kirby signed first, then Wright. The clerk asked the couple if they swore to the facts of the document and they replied "yes" simultaneously. "I'm kinda nervous," Kirby said. "That seems ridiculous, but it's something I never envisioned doing in the past." Then, the two went back outside the office and to the court window, where Wright pulled out her checkbook to write a $25 payment for the service. Kirby said she was going to pay back half when they got home. "We always do things that way, one gets groceries while the other pays the utility bill," she said. The clerk noted: "That's all there is to it," and the couple were registered. Fourmet snapped photos as Wright and Kirby posed outside the police station in front of some large pines. Kirby said that until she met Wright, she didn't realize she was interested in women. After they met and fell in love at the Christian college, Wright dropped out so that Kirby wouldn't get kicked out of school for her affections. "I almost completed my degree, but this issue as well as others compelled me to go somewhere else," said Kirby, a literature major. "I needed to go somewhere I could grow." They moved to Ashland a year ago. Neither has talked to their parents about their love, although they think their folks know. Kirby and Wright decided to register as a couple only two weeks ago when they saw an article in the newspaper. Wright noted the registry was an "affirmation of our commitment." "Symbolism is important in our everyday lives," Kirby said. "I see this as a little positive reinforcement from the city of Ashland." They said they expect to stay together forever, or at least as long as their relationship is healthy. "Our commitment is as long as we can grow together," Kirby said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA