Source: Columbia Missourian
LGBT activists in Columbia, Mo. -- home to the University of Missouri -- hope their city will become the fourth jurisdiction in the state to create a domestic partnership registry.
Supporters of the registry say it's important to establish a list of simple rights and suggested benefits and to validate the relationships of LGBT individuals, according to the Columbia Missourian.
Although at least one of them is more limited than what advocates hope to achieve in Columbia, domestic partnership registries have already been established in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Jackson County.
Missouri banned same-sex marriage four years before the recent passage of California's ban, Proposition 8, but supporters of the registry point out that this is a different issue.
"This is not marriage," said A.J. Bockelman, executive director of Missouri's statewide LGBT advocacy group PROMO. "This is nowhere near the rights and privileges of marriage."
"The extra, added component that can be good across the board for registries is giving an employer some way to recognize there is some sort of a relationship between two people in order to have domestic partner benefits," Bockelman said. "Domestic partner registries by no means require a business entity to have (domestic partner) benefits."
Travis Lauhoff, 20, told the Missourian that he and his partner, Jason Barber, 24, would sign onto the registry if it passes. They both told the Missourian that they think Columbia is very accepting, and Lauhoff said he thinks passing an ordinance to create a registry is possible in the city.
Lauhoff said he moved to the college town to escape discrimination. While he was living in Marceline, businesses refused to hire him, he told the paper, and people frequently threatened and taunted him, he said.
Lauhoff said that he enjoys his current job at Subway, where he hasn't felt any discrimination in regard to his sexual orientation.
"I'd like to have all the same rights that straight people have," Lauhoff said. He paused, then continued. "That may never happen, but ..."
Showing his resignation in his hopes for equality, he told Missourian reporter Molly Harbarber that his opinion of Columbia wouldn't change if the council didn't approve the registry. He said he supports legalizing gay marriage, but right now he wants mostly to show people that same-sex relationships are valid.
"Most of my straight friends think (gay people) go from person to person," Lauhoff said. "You've got to give them positive reinforcement. You've got to show them people who have been together for a while and actually are happy."
The Columbia LGBT community and its supporters are lobbying Mayor Darwin Hindman and the rest of the city council to garner support for a registry.
Advocates for the ordinance have contacted the council about the idea. Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said she saw a draft of the ordinance already.
"We talked about it, and I had a couple suggestions," Hoppe told the Missourian. "There's still some kinks to work out of it. So, I think they're gonna come back and take a little while to sort of revise it and talk with some more people. I think if the ordinance is constructed well, it has the potential to serve a variety of people in a positive way. My guess is that it would have a good chance of passing."
She suggested that the language of the current draft should make it more obvious that its points are optional rather than mandatory.
She said registries also could benefit people outside the LGBT community, such as elderly heterosexual couples.
"A point that they raised was that it would apply to senior citizens who don’t get married for a variety of reasons, and this will help them in terms of having a better process for visiting in the hospitals and a variety of other things," Hoppe said.
"We’re not just thinking of the gay folks and the LGBT community; we’re thinking of everybody because Columbia has a huge drawing of retired people," said David Huddlestonsmith, 64, who worries about his daughter and partner if he were to die. "If we had a DPR, it would be more attractive to all people," he said.
Huddlestonsmith said he has talked to the mayor about the proposal.
"We're asking basically for some equality," Huddlestonsmith told the Missourian.
"If people really pay attention to what is being asked for, which is the same human rights for LGBT people as other people, there shouldn't be any real opposition," Huddlestonsmith said. "We are a progressive community, we're a university town, and we really need to catch up in some of our policies to other cities."
Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser told the Missourian that she is "all for" visitation rights, such as at hospitals and prisons, for everyone but is uncertain she "approves of marriage in the traditional sense" for same-sex couples.
Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala told the Missourian it is "no secret" that he's been supportive of the LGBT community. He encourages residents to share with the council any proposals they think would improve the city.
Although he said he hasn't seen a proposal for the registry or talked to other council members about it, he told the Missourian he approved of the idea. "At the outset, I think it sounds like a great idea," he said.
Skala but he said he feels "pretty comfortable in this community that there's a lot of us that approach these big issues from a thorough point of view."
Many entities and businesses, including Boone Hospital Center in Columbia and all Fortune 500 companies, give partners health insurance benefits already. It's not mandatory, though, and Bockelman said the registries can frustrate people because of their limits.
Some registries give rights to partners concerning the disposition of remains, notification of family members, use and access to public facilities and health-care decisions.
But the St. Louis registry, passed in 1998, is "very limited in scope," according to Bockelman, ensuring only the right to visit a partner in the hospital or in jail.
Source: LGBT community promotes domestic partnership registry | Columbia Missourian