Just in time for the St. Pete Pride celebration on the last day of the month, the City of Tampa will begin registering domestic partners on Monday, June 25. Tampa is the first Tampa Bay area municipality to offer domestic partner registration after it was approved unanimously by the city council in April and signed by Mayor Bob Buckhorn in March.
Buckhorn told the press that he welcomes the opportunity “to ensure that all citizens of the city of Tampa have the same basic rights.”
The registry, modeled after the one in Orlando, produced no controversy when it was introduced in council chambers in February. It allows partners, gay or straight the rights to visit each other in the hospital, make health care decisions for an incapacitated partner, be notified as a family member in an emergency affecting their partner and overseeing funeral and burial arrangements for each other.
“This is a community that treats everyone with dignity,” Buckhorn said.
While the ordinance can only be enforced within the city limits of Tampa, it is not restricted solely to Tampa's unmarried residents. Anyone can utilize the domestic partnership registry, as long as they are at least 18 years old, unmarried and not related by blood to their partner.
Couples can begin registering at 9 a.m. June 25 at the City Clerk's office on the third floor of Old City Hall, 315 E. Kennedy Blvd. Appointments are not permitted and the registration fee is $30.
According to the City of Tampa's website, partners must produce a driver's license or other state-issued identification so their signatures can be notarized.
Other area municipalities have followed suit. The City of Gulfport became the first Pinellas County city to pass a domestic partnership registry and both the cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater on track to do so this month.
