Orlando, FL sets to OK couples' registry

www.orlandosentinel.com...

If approved by the City Council at public hearings Monday and next week, Orlando would have the first domestic-partnership registry in Central Florida. Couples — gay and straight — could go to City Hall, fill out a form, pay a $30 fee and have their relationship entered into a government database.

"It's intended to … make people's lives better during the worst times in their life," said attorney Mary Meeks of the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee. "There are many people who live around Orlando who are in familial relationships but not married, whose lives are made much more difficult because they don't have these rights."

Are we seeing the beginning of the end for marriage and divorce attorneys?

Of course this registry is more geared towards homosexual couples, but it's nice to see a choice available to couples who don't want to get married for one reason or another. At least this way, a person's significant other would be able to visit them in the hospital and be a deciding factor in other circumstances.

In my opinion, this is a great thing. I'm the type of woman who isn't sure that I'd ever get married in the traditional sense, but I'd like my man to be able to visit me in the event that I'm hospitalized. For those of us who don't want to be tied up in a paper contract, adding your name to a registry and being able to act as the other's power of attorney is a comfortable median.

I'm just wondering how difficult it would be to have your names removed from the registry.

Thoughts? Has anyone else heard of something similar in their state or county?

Mods, I tried to fix the external quotes and separate my personal comments, but I can't seem to fix it.
Help?

My comments begin with the question about the death of marriage and continues to the end.
Thanks.
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Thanks for repairing it, Mods!
Much appreciated.

Marriage is a contract between three entities: you, your spouse, and your government.
Does this "registry" give your government any rights over your relationship the way a marriage contract does?

reply to post by Alethea


It seems to have just the power of attorney and visitation aspects. When a traditional marriage contract deals with name changes, taxation issues, and sharing property, this seems to only apply to health issues. I could be wrong though since the article is a bit vague. Like most bills/laws, we always find out more info AFTER they take effect, so stay tuned.

reply to post by Afterthought


I don't see why couples regardless of gender can not have their union recognized, hell to me is not about homosexuality of what is right or wrong depending of somebody else opinion mostly base on religion, but is about the legal rights of a couple living together for and what they achieve together as a couple, many times even children are part of the union, they deserve to enjoy the same rights as any other couple.

reply to post by marg6043


Agreed. I think that the issues surrounding hospital rules need to be updated. Unless someone is in the hospital and their immediate family doesn't like the person's partner and tells the doctors and nurses to not allow them visitation, at least this registry would trump that. I can't see this happening often though, but I could be wrong.

I do have many questions aobut this though and I hope an article with more details emerges soon. I'm wondering how difficult and costly it is to get off of it, how much personal information do they want to know about you to be on it, do they want to know if the couple has child(ren), etc.

Too many questions and not enough answers.

reply to post by Afterthought


Sad isn't it that in this time and age couples have to face this type of discriminations because somebody else opinions.

Just like any spouse and the issue of privacy, it should be not different than what a regular couple (husband and wife) have to go through when it comes to any issue pertaining an union and the rights of a partner to have center stage on any decisions about each other, it should not even be questioned.

UPDATE:
www.orlandosentinel.com...
Orlando's gay community celebrated Monday as the city became the first in Central Florida to recognize the relationships of same-sex couples.
Once the registry opens on Jan. 12, unmarried couples — whether gay or straight — will be able to record their relationship in a government database for a $30 fee.

www.cfnews13.com...