At the Orlando City Council meeting Monday, commissioners voted unanimously to move ahead with an ordinance to establish a Domestic Partnership Registry.
With dozens of LGBT couples in attendance, close to twenty people addressed the Council, many of them telling emotional stories of how they or their friends have been discriminated against.
Although the ordinance will not grant LGBT persons the same rights as married couples, once implemented registered domestic partners in same-sex or opposite-sex couples would be able to visit each other in the hospital, nursing homes or jail and make health care decisions for each other.
“As Orlando prepares to implement the Domestic Partnership Registry, it will be historic,” said activist Mary Meeks. “The Registry will be transformational …and lay the basis for other advances and establish a model for others.”
Commissioner Patty Sheehan (District 4), who is gay, and like many others who spoke, also told stories of friends who were unable to carry other their partners’ dying wishes owing to lack of legal standing. She pointed out too, the Registry will offer protection for those LGBT couples who can’t afford the cost of legal documentation. Sheehan ended her presentation by asking her partner, who was present, to be her domestic partner.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming support for the Domestic Partnership Registry, at least two persons spoke against its implementation.
“You have no right to do wrong,” Charles Norris admonished commissioners. “Same sex couples… are committing acts against the natural order and its destructive to society. This evil is so grave, any action that supports it is wrong.”
Commissioner Tony Ortiz (District 2) said, he had initially struggled with the proposal because of his conservative and religious background. But in the end, he said, it was about fairness and doing what is right for humanity.
Evidently, all City Council members agreed and all voted for the ordinance. There will be a second reading of the ordinance next Monday, which is expected to pass easily.
“It is simply the right thing to do and the right time,” Orlando Mayor Buddy said. “I hope that Orange County will join us.”
Orlando is the first city in Central Florida to move ahead with the implementation of a Domestic Partnership Registry.
