Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, First Coast News
Local government leaders in south Florida don't plan to retreat from offering domestic partnership benefits in the wake of voters' decision last week to rewrite the Florida Constitution to outlaw marriage for gay/lesbian couples and anything similar to it.
The broadly-written amendment passed with nearly 62% of the vote. It defines a marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman and also bars governments from offering programs that are the "substantial equivalent" of marriage.
Supporters of the constitutional amendment say they have no plans to challenge domestic partnership benefits, but lawsuits in other states have forced governments to reconsider what they offer after voters approved similar initiatives.
And that worries some of those who have benefits because of domestic partnership laws.
Chrisy Pearee is worried about just how the amendment will impact health benefits in her domestic partnership, First Coast News reports.
Pearee, who is in a domestic relationship with her boyfriend of the past 10 years, says she's been down this road before in Wisconsin.
"When it did pass [in Wisconsin] I had been eligible for his insurance before, not afterwards. His employer told me I could not, I was no longer eligible," said Pearee, who moved to Florida last year.
Pearee she doesn't know what to expect, but fears the worst.
"Whether the hospital will allow us to be there for each other...if anything does happen. We are very worried, we don't know where this leaves us," said Pearee.
The amendment's foes, including the teachers union, gay activists, and senior advocates, feared the change to the constitution could bar governments from offering health insurance and other benefits to the unmarried partners, both straight and gay, of its workers.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida opposed the amendment saying it would have a major impact on its ability to provide benefits for domestic partners.
In Florida it's estimated there are more than 400,000 unmarried people in domestic partnerships, First Coast News reports.
The governments and school districts of Broward and Palm Beach counties offer health insurance coverage to domestic partners of their employees, as do a handful of cities, South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. Both counties also have partnership registries that grant unmarried gay and straight couples certain visitation and decision-making rights.
"At this point, we're proceeding as if nothing has happened," West Palm Beach Commissioner Bill Moss told Palm Beach Post. "And if we do get sued, we'll deal with that."
Palm Beach County commissioners haven't even brought the subject up, County Administrator Bob Weisman told the Post.
Some officials are asking their attorneys to see whether steps should be taken to fend off possible legal attacks that contend the benefits violate the gay-marriage ban, Sun Sentinel reports.
"If any agency believes this new language in our constitution compels them to deny health benefits to the domestic partners of their employees, we would certainly be in court as soon as we possibly could," Howard Simon of the ACLU of Florida told Palm Beach Post.
Pastor Tom Messer with Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville was involved in Amendment 2. Like other proponents of the amendment, he says that its broadly-written language was not meant to target domestic partnership laws.
"There's never been any discussion at all on trying to limit anybody's domestic partnership rights," said Messer.
"I'm not too sure where it goes from here, but we are proud of what we did to value people's relationships and want to keep our existing programs in place," Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons said.
Source: South Florida officials say domestic partner benefits won't change | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Marriage Amendment Raises Concerns about Health Benefits | First Coast News
'Significant other' benefits unaffected | Palm Beach Post