After a year and a half of discussion and negotiation, the Orange County Board of Commissioners passed a countywide domestic partnership registry (DPR) on May 22. With a vote of 6-1, District 2 Commissioner Fred Brummer was the lone dissenter.
See a Shot on Site gallery of the Orange County Commission meeting.
Hope pervaded the atmosphere of the meeting chambers with optimistic DPR supporters decked out it red. It was a fitting day to pass the registry as it was also Harvey Milk Day, what would have been the 82nd birthday of the late gay San Francisco elected official.
While testifying in favor of the registry, Randy Stephens, executive director of The Center Orlando, quoted Milk's famous “Hope Speech,” saying “you've gotta give them hope” to the Board of Commissioners as he called upon them to set an example of equality.
The ordinance will go into effect in July.
“I'm very proud of where we are today. I know it has taken a lot longer than anyone wished but I think that we are doing something ground-breaking,” said Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs. “I think Orange County is open and friendly to the [LGBT community] and I think [the ordinance] confirms that.”
Equality Florida Field Director Joe Saunders called it a “great day” for Central Florida.
“After two years of organizing, our county commissioners, a board of six Republicans and one Democrat, voted 6-1 to recognize and protect our families,” Saunders said. “Today's victory gives me hope that no community is off the table. We can make all of Florida as inclusive as Orange County.”
Mayor Jacobs proposed the Health, Education and Life Protection (HELP) ordinance on May 10 but drew criticism from LGBT activists who said the lack of a specific domestic partner registry meant the ordinance would fail to protect Central Florida's gay families. On May 22, Jacobs released an amended ordinance addressing some of those concerns. According to a release from the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee (OADO), the modified proposal lets unmarried couples, regardless of sexual orientation, choose between the HELP plan or a domestic partner registry.
Though the domestic partnership registry was passed, District 5 Commissioner Ted Edwards proposed a last-minute amendment striking punitive damages and attorney's fee protections from the ordinance.
Commissioner Edwards opposed the ordinance allowing an Orange County DPR participant to sue for punitive damages and attorneys' fees if their rights were violated.
“I support granting these rights and I understand their symbolic importance, but I don't understand why we are adopting an ordinance that sets ourselves up for attorney's fees,” Edwards said.
The amendment removing punitive damages was approved unanimously by the board. Though OADO member and attorney Mary Meeks was thrilled about the ordinance passing, she said she was disappointed that some of the ordinance's legal language was cut.
“I think the board got some bad legal advice. It's not that Orlando or another other city chose not [to include punitive damages and attorney's fees in their ordinance], they couldn't do it by law, but the county can,” said Meeks.
The ordinance is still enforceable in court without the right to punitive damages and attorney's fees, but Meeks expressed concerned about adequate compensation for a DPR couple whose rights are violated.
“To enforce your rights, you can still sue for compensatory damages. The issue is in this kind of situation, you may not have compensatory damages or loss of money,” she said. “The real issue is if you're not allowed in the hospital room as your partner is dying, you didn't lose any money. That's where punitive damages would cover that to punish someone for doing such a horrific thing even if it didn't cost you any money.”
The final vote on the registry finally came down after three hours of discussion and debate with most of the time devoted to the public forum. Twenty supporters and three opponents weighed in on the registry.
MBA President Gina Duncan spoke about the importance of guaranteeing human rights and being on the right side of history. She candidly talked about how the ordinance affects her as a transgender woman and a mother with an openly gay daughter and son who is a straight ally. Duncan quoted President John F. Kennedy, “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity,” emphasizing the importance of fostering a hopeful world for all children.
A mother and her two children, clergy, straight allies, LGBT activists, politicians, attorneys, business owners, and people of faith, both for and against, were among the voices heard. Many supporters also stressed the importance that the ordinance be specifically called a “Domestic Partnership Registry” instead of the vague HELP ordinance. It's unclear what exactly the ordinance will be officially titled, but Jacobs did stress that when the county promotes the ordinance on its website and elsewhere, it will be called a domestic partner registry. The county attorney mentioned a possible addendum to the ordinance stating as such.
The ordinance will provide county-wide rights and protections for unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples, including hospital visitation, jail visitation, emergency notifications, guardian decisions, healthcare decisions, funeral/burial decisions and participation in a child's public education.
The City of Orlando passed a similar ordinance in November. Orange County's passage comes four days after Volusia County Council members voted to create Central Florida's first countywide registry. Tampa approved its DPR in March and Gulfport was the first Pinellas County municipality to adopt such an ordinance earlier this month. St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Belle Isle, Sarasota, and Pinellas County have all started the process of creating domestic partnership registries in their respective areas.
Mayor Jacobs said that her staff will work over the next month to educate Orange County citizens on how the domestic partner registry process will work. She encouraged interested couples to continue to check for updates on the county website.
As the Central Florida LGBT community celebrates another victory, Stephens said there is still work to do to support gender identity protections, LGBT tourism and marriage equality.
Stephens said that it was time to go back and add gender identity to Orlando's Human Rights Ordinance. It was omitted from the ordinance when it was originally passed.
