Tom Brougham (born March 20, 1943) is a Berkeley, California gay rights activist who was the first to suggest a new legal category for recognizing couples other than marriage, and who coined the phrase domestic partnership.
In 1983, the City of Berkeley took up Brougham and Warren's idea by creating the Domestic Partner Task Force through the city's Human Rights and Welfare Commission; Leland Traiman served as the DPTF's chairperson, and Brougham contributed to the draft policy.
It played a role in the electoral defeat of many members who had voted against the bill, and the solidly-pro-domestic partnership majority voted in favor of the bill in December, and Brougham and Warren were the first couple to file for employee domestic partnership benefits under the city's policy.
Berkeley's policy, however, did not include a registry for residents of the city; it only granted live-in partner health benefits regardless of whether they were straight or gay.
[3] Brougham drafted the registry ordinance along with the Berkeley City Clerk Sherry Kelly and then president of the East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club Victoria Kolakowski.