The Largo City Commission is about to see if its constituency has progressed at all over the past 5-7 years. The commission has asked the city staff to work on a domestic partnership registry that would be similar to those already active in Tampa, Gulfport and soon to be active in St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
“It's not a gay or straight issue,” said Largo City Commissioner Michael Smith. “It's a human issue.
Smith, who is gay, pitched the idea on July 10 to the commission as a way for unmarried partners”both gay and straight”to have access to each other in hospitals, jails and to be notified in cases of emergency.
Throughout the state, similar ordinances have been passed with very little to no opposition. It's unclear if the process will move as smoothly in Largo, which has had a very public and dramatic battle with LGBT equality issues.
In 2003, the city first considered a human rights ordinance that would have barred discrimination based on sexual orientation. The move sparked a controversy and packed City Hall with hundreds of people on both sides of the issue. In the end, four commissioners voted the human rights ordinance down.
In 2007, Largo made national headlines when it became embroiled over a decision to fire City Manager Steve Stanton, who announced plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery to become Susan Stanton. Like in 2003, hundreds of people on both sides of the issue flooded City Hall physically and with e-mails and letters to voice their support or opposition to Stanton. Eventually the commission voted to fire Stanton.
In an interview with Watermark earlier this year, Smith was hopeful that Largo had matured and that such controversies could be avoided.
“Largo is seeing progress,” Smith said. “There's a focus on arts, culture and becoming a destination for tourism. Times are changing and it feels like a new era.”
The fee to register as domestic partners is $30 in Tampa and Clearwater, $25 in Gulfport, and will probably be similar in St. Petersburg, where the staff has not finalized a cost but has proposed a $30 fee.
If the Largo ordinance moves forward, Smith wants it to honor domestic partnerships from other cities, as the ordinances in St. Petersburg and Tampa do. By adding Largo onto the growing list of cities in the county with such ordinances, Smith is hopeful that the Pinellas County Commission will make a county-wide DPR, much like what Orange County implemented last month near Orlando.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Largo Commissioners Gigi Arntzen and Harriet Crozier and Mayor Pat Gerard all expressed interest in a city registry. The staff will bring a proposal to the commission at an undetermined work session, probably in a few months, and collect feedback before any official vote.
Commissioner Curtis Holmes said he needs more details.
“I don’t care what your lifestyle is. As long as it’s legal and it doesn’t cost the taxpayer any, it doesn’t bother me,” he said.
Holmes said that he is skeptical that a city can force hospitals to recognize domestic partners as family members. Officials at Largo Medical Center and BayCare Health System, which includes several area hospitals, said they’d honor local domestic partnerships.
However, hospital officials also urge unmarried couples that want the right to make medical decisions for each other in cases of emergency to take extra steps, like giving each other power of attorney or naming each other health care surrogates.
The timing seems right for Largo to create a DPR, Smith told Watermark.
“It's a tough balance because the gay community expects you to push for things and those on the other side are watching everything you do to make sure you're not pushing through some agenda,” said Smith, who wears a rainbow Pride bracelet on his left wrist. “All I can do is be myself. I can bring things up”like the fact I don't have the same benefits as the straight commissioners because my relationship isn't legally recognized. I can show them that I'm a gay man and that doesn't mean I'm some scary monster.”
