The City of Tampa could follow Orlando's example and create a domestic partnership registry for unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
City Councilwoman Yvonne Capin proposed the registry during the council's Feb. 23 meeting.
The council voted 5-0, with Charlie Miranda and Frank Reddick absent, to ask city attorneys to draft an ordinance similar to Orlando’s and report back on March 15.
The Orlando registry lets domestic partners have hospital visitation, make health decisions for each other, make funeral arrangements and be considered each other's next of kin by police and emergency workers.
“Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed as recognizing or treating a domestic partnership as a marriage,” the ordinance says.
According to census estimates, Tampa has just over 9,000 unmarried-partner households. Fewer than 900 of those are same-sex couples.
Tampa has a long history of being LGBT-friendly, thanks to the work of former mayor Pam Iorio and the continuing support of Mayor Bob Buckhorn. The city offers domestic partnership benefits to its employees. But the more conservative Hillsborough County seems much cooler to the idea of inclusion. In fact, that county's commission voted to eliminate protections for gays and lesbians in 2005″the same year former commissioner Ronda Storms led a campaign to “ban” gay Pride events from the county.
Equality Florida state field director Joe Saunders is confident that any economic worries the city may have regarding such a registry will be eliminated upon research.
“There is almost no fiscal impact,” Saunders explained. “Couples pay to register. It's just like paying to get a marriage license. You go to city clerk, pay $30, pay for the administrative fee and the paper, and the amount a city or county has spent is extremely minimal.”
Saunders added that there's even a chance for Tampa to profit from domestic partnership registries.
“There is an immeasurable economic impact,” Saunders said. “People want to move where they can be comfortable and happy and companies want to relocate to areas where their employees can be happy and productive.”
The registry would be open to both heterosexual and homosexual couples, Capin said. She does not see it as a step toward legalizing same-sex marriage.
The city of Gainesville and the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach also have domestic partnership registries.
Equality Florida executive director Nadine Smith applauded Capin's proposal during the organization's annual Gala in Ybor City Feb. 25.
There, she noted the progress that has taken place since the organization formed 15 years ago and the motivation behind Capin's request.
“She surprised us by presenting this before we expected,” Smith said from the podium. “But she had motivation. She told me that her grandchild was scheduled to be born that day and she wanted to be able to tell that grandchild that the day it was born, its grandmother did something to try and make the world a little bit better than the day before the birth.”
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn told the Tampa Bay Times that he is sympathetic to Capin’s idea, saying “people who are not married but are in committed relationships ought to have some protection in those situations.”
“I’m not privy to the nuances, but it’s certainly a discussion we ought to have,” he said. “It goes to the heart of who we are as a community, how we treat people and how fair we are.”
Buckhorn agreed with Saunders that having a registry would boost Tampa's economic competitiveness.
“If we’re going to attract the best and the brightest, we can’t be demonizing each other based on race, creed, orientation or any other factor,” he said.
A large crowd is already expected for the March 15 council meeting and LGBTs and allies are encouraged to attend to show support for the registry.
