Clearwater’s city council has begun the process of developing a domestic partnership registry.
There, Mayor George Cretekos brought up the idea during an April 16 city council work session.
“I think it’s the right thing for us to do. I think it’s the decent thing for us to do,” Cretekos said.
Cretekos spoke about Tampa's recently-finalized domestic partner registry, and encouraged council members to move forward on offering the protection to partners within the city limits.
“I really don’t see any downside to this,” Clearwater council member Bill Jonson added during the workshop.
The registry allows unmarried same-sex or opposite-sex partners to register with the city as next of kin. This allows for hospital visitation, health care decisions, correctional facility visitation rights and funeral planning of unwed partners. Those rights are usually only given to legal spouses or next-of-kin.
