Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs apparently does not intend to instate a county-wide domestic partner registry similar to the one recently passed by the city of Orlando, proposing a form-based system instead. The announcement was made a few hours before an emergency Orange County Domestic Partner Registry town hall meeting at the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida.
In an impromptu press conference Jan. 9, Jacobs presented a form that residents can download on the county website and carry with them. The form would allow any individual to assign any resident gay or straight – to make their important medical, end-of-life, and other decisions. The completed forms would be registered in a county database for hospitals to access.
LGBT activist, attorney, and Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee (OADO) member Mary Meeks called Mayor Jacobs’ proposed alternative to a registry a sham.
“We don’t need more documents and more contracts, we need legal recognition,” she said.
Mayor Jacobs' announcement set the tone for the town hall meeting as focus shifted from a push to win Mayor Jacobs’ support to exploring ways to work around the mayor’s opposition of the registry.
More than one hundred people filled the GLBT Community Center to share stories about the detrimental effects of not having a domestic partner registry in Orange County to coincide with the City of Orlando’s registry. OADO member Kathryn Norsworthy told the story of a woman asked to take her partner off life support, but who was not allowed by hospital staff to be with her partner when she died. Norsworthy said the women's partner died alone because their relationship had no legal protections and they were not considered family.
Winter Park resident Pam Sehnert stood up at the town hall to ask if it would help to send letters to the Orange County Commissioners. She and her partner Rose Gamba have been together for more than 11 years. Sehnert calls Gamba the love of her life.
Sehnert wrote a letter to Mayor Jacobs about the financial and legal hardships she and Gamba faced when Gamba became extremely ill. Sehnert said she had to pay the majority of the bills and she lived in fear that if something happened to Gamba, she might lose everything, including their home. Even though they are in each other’s wills, Sehnert believes Gamba’s brother would contest the will and throw her out on the street because their relationship has no legal protections.
The couple has a Winter Park address, but they are under Orange County jurisdiction. Sehnert works in Orlando city limits which she said further confuses matters over where a domestic partner registry would be valid.
Eric Paci, who sits on The Center’s Board of Directors, stood up to ask about Mayor Jacobs’ obsession with numbers. Mayor Jacobs has allegedly expressed doubts over whether many people would use the registry as well as whether problems with partner health care decisions are really that big of an issue.
“What is the magic number for how many people have to have their civil rights denied before she does something about it?” Paci asked.
Metropolitan Business Association (MBA) president Gina Duncan said this issue is highly personal for her, as it not only affects those she represents through the Central Florida’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce, but also her daughter who is gay.
“We need consistency and we need to take the confusion out of the registry – nothing short,” said Duncan, speaking about how her daughter has to find a hospital within Orlando city limits in order for her daughter’s partner to be allowed to make decisions regarding hospital care.
In May of 2010, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer reached out to Mayor Jacobs, encouraging her to lead the county in pursuing domestic partner registry side by side with the city. As Orange County continued to stall on the issue, the City of Orlando moved forward with its own domestic partner registry, which was approved unanimously Dec. 12, 2011. Orlando's domestic partner registry defines domestic partnership, outlines the registration process and provides an overview of protections provided within a domestic partnership that has been recognized by the City of Orlando. Those protections include hospital visitation, rights to health care decisions, correctional facility visitation, rights to funeral/burial decisions, guardianship and the right for both domestic partners to participate in the education of their children. Orlando will launch its domestic partner registry Jan. 12.
Now that Mayor Jacobs has broken her silence, attorney and LGBT activist Mary Meeks said at the town hall that at least the community knows where the mayor stands on the issue and there is no more speculating.
“She said today very specifically that she does not support and does not intend to support a domestic partner registry,” said Meeks. “At 4:15 pm today, she officially confirmed that.”
Talks had come to a standstill between Mayor Jacobs and the OADO regarding the Orange County registry. Up until the afternoon of Jan. 9, Meeks said they still had hopes that Mayor Jacobs might pull through and support the registry.
Meeks said the mayor halted all communication with OADO and asked the Orange County attorney to no longer speak with them. According to Meeks, both the Orange County attorney and the Orange County comptroller had reported that a county domestic partner registry would be both legal and financially feasible.
Mayor Jacob’s refusal in recent weeks to talk about the domestic partner registry was what motivated the emergency meeting. The OADO, along with the GLBT Community Center, the MBA, Equality Florida, and other LGBT community groups have also organized a letter-writing campaign and petition to mobilize support for the Orange County registry. According to MBA vice president Mikael Audebert, more than 800 people have signed the online petition. Meeks reported that many community members have emailed Mayor Jacobs email in support of a county domestic partner registry.
Meeks added that Mayor Jacob’s stance on the issue appears to reflect the policy stance of anti-gay lobbyist John Stemberger.
