Source: Miami Herald, Express Gay News
Miami -- Before Tropical Storm Fay forced the county to shut its offices at lunchtime, 20 couples had registered at a downtown office for Miami-Dade County's new domestic partnership registry. Six more had submitted notarized applications by mail.
One at a time, the couples were called into an office where their application data was entered into a computer. It was, in a word, bureaucratic with -- as Miami Herald's Matthew I. Pinzur described it -- "all the romance of renewing a license plate".
''This is a step in the right direction toward recognizing our relationship,'' Mindy McNichols told the Miami Herald. She's an attorney for the Miami-Dade school district, who registered Monday morning with Ann Harrington, her partner of 18 years.
Registered couples receive some of the rights given to spouses, including hospital and jail visitation. In the past, some couples hired attorneys to draw up legal papers to secure those rights, but the process is costly and imperfect.
The newly minted partners received printed certificates and laminated identification cards. Some couples told the Herald they hoped the standardization would eliminate the uncertainty that comes with trying to brandish complex legal documents during emergencies.
''I no longer have to run home in a moment of crisis to find a piece of paper,'' said Juan Talavera, chairman of SAVE Dade, the activist group that pushed Miami-Dade for years to recognize partnerships. He and his partner, Jeff Ronci, were among the first couples to register.
County commissioners approved the measure May 20, with an 8 - 4 vote.
The decision was hailed as a thorough, if not long overdue, victory for the gay community and for countless unmarried straight couples.
But, even as couples lined up to register, Amendment 2 -- a statewide measure to recognize only one-man-one-woman marriages -- looms on the Nov. 4 ballot.
If 60 percent of Florida voters approve it, Amendment 2 could render the county registry null and void, Express Gay News reports.
A Miami Herald-Zogby poll in June found nearly 50 percent of South Floridians support the amendment, with 39 percent opposed.
Talavera said opposition to Amendment 2 will be among SAVE's top priorities this year, as will convincing Miami-Dade's cities to follow the lead of Miami Beach and North Miami by allowing employees to add their partners to insurance coverage.
For two Miami couples, attorneys Mark Balzli and Jeff Hearne, and gay activist Kirk Arthur and chemical engineer Alfredo Iglesias, Monday's registration was more than just a photo op.
Both couples told Express Gay News last week that the registry is a small step toward a larger goal: that of marriage equality.
Both couples have children. Balzli and Hearne, together for six years, are raising their son Aidan, who, at 8 years-old, is obsessed with dinosaurs. Arthur and Iglesias' 19 year-old son Alfie lives on his own in San Diego, Calif.
Together the couples represent two successful gay families at different points in their lives. And each have taken measures to get some form of legal recognition for their union. The attorneys were among the first couples to register as domestic partners in Miami Beach in 2003. Arthur and Iglesias were married July 11 in California. Their marriage, however, is not legally recognized in Florida due to current state laws.
Both couples said they were determined to step forward to be officially recognized here at home.
"The legislation says the county will honor our partnership," Balzli told Express Gay News. "It's not going to hurt. We have an eight-year-old boy and we don't want to have issues."
The registry is especially beneficial to LGBT families with children: Florida is the only state in the U.S. that specifically outlaws gay couples from adopting together, and while the registry does not overturn that law, it does provide limited legal recognition of guardianship for both parents.
The Miami-Dade registry will also give couples more leverage in emergency circumstances to deal with their finances and property in case one of them passes away.
Like most gay couples who've built lives together, Arthur and Iglesias say they don't need a certificate to define their relationship, after 13 years together in a committed relationship.
But Arthur and Iglesias said the new registry provides an extra measure of security. Aside from establishing a legal recognition of their bond, being registered will serve to keep things, "straight" with the public.
"It solves a lot of the ambiguities," Iglesias said.
"It just feels good," Arthur chimes in. "You have a word that people understand, and there's no question."
Source: On first day, 26 couples sign up in Miami-Dade County for domestic-partner recognition | Miami Herald
One step toward equality | Express Gay News