ORLANDO, Fla.,None — More than 20 couples lined up at Orlando City Hall on Thursday to be the first in the city to sign the domestic partner registry.
The registry brings more rights for domestic partners.
Advocates said the registry has been a long time coming, but still has a long way to go.
The Domestic Partner Registry is available to anyone who wants to sign up, and will allow for those residents to have the same rights in hospitals, jails and funeral homes that married couples do.
"We value our relationship, just like any other couple would," said Alan Meeks, who registered on Thursday.
Meeks and his partner, Rob Dominico, has been a couple for 10 years.
Meek said just before they met, he beat a brain tumor.
Meek has been healthy ever since, but he and his partner said they still worry.
"If I were to become incapacitated again, he could visit me without any barriers," said Meek.
Anyone who pays $30 can be put into a public database called the Domestic Partner Registry.
Partners will be able to make medical decisions, arrange funerals, and have visitation rights for their loved ones, gay or straight.
Although gay rights activists are happy with Orlando, they are furious with Orange County.
Mayor Teresa Jacobs is proposing a system where residents can assign anyone to make their life decisions for them.
Critics said that is not good enough because it is not an ordinance, therefore a law.
"My philosophy is, you don't create laws if they aren't necessary," Jacobs recently said.
But in Orlando, the city used its Home Rule authority to bypass the state, and make the Domestic Partner Registry a law.
"We're only getting a small percentage of the rights today and she wants to whittle that down even more, and I think that's wrong," said Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan.
Jacobs issued a statement about the registry in the county, saying it is on-going process and they're discussing with hospitals and other groups on how it should be done.
Jacobs said she will bring the issue to the board in the coming months.
Orange County officials have no immediate plans to create a registry for county residents.
The start of the registry occurs during the same week that the online edition of The Advocate picked Orlando as the nation's second "gayest city." The gay-interest publication cited the domestic registry as a reason.
WFTV
