Miami Beach's
commissioners will vote Wednesday to affirm the city's
domestic-partnership policy after Florida passed Amendment
2, invalidating rights for residents in nonmarital
relationships like domestic partnerships offered
through cities and counties.
The city started
offering instituted health benefits for gay and straight
partners of city employees in 1998, according to
Safeguarding American Values for Everyone, a local
advocacy organization. The city then added a domestic
partnership registry in 2004. The vote on Wednesday is to
reaffirm the city's standing policy.
"We are already
seeing early steps in Tampa to undermine the city's
domestic-partnership policy because of Amendment 2. The
elected officials in Miami Beach are being
pro-active," SAVE executive director C.J. Ortuno
said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Florida
Family Association, a conservative Christian nonprofit
group, has been looking for ways to change the
Hillsborough County Charter in 2010. Hillsborough
County does not offer domestic partnerships, but the
city of Tampa, which is located in Hillsborough, does. FFA
executive director David Canton said the organization
is raising the issue mainly because the city of Tampa
elected a gay county commissioner, Kevin Beckner, the
St. Petersburg Times reported November 21.
While the amendment to the Hillsborough Charter would not
affect city employees, Canton said the plan is to gain
momentum from that campaign to influence the election
of city council members and the mayor in 2011.
(Michelle Garcia, Advocate.com)
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