05.22.08
Domestic Partnership Passes
In a 8-4 vote, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved a county-wide domestic-partnership registry, providing recognition to all non-married couples who register in the county. The measure includes shared health insurance for county employees, as well as family visitation rights for partners at county health care facilities.
While all twelve Miami-Dade County Commissioners expressed support for domestic partnership benefits at the Commission meeting Tuesday, the measure was met with wh at seemed to be a thinly - veiled attempt by Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz to derail it by broadening the language, thereby postponing the measure and perhaps never allowing it to come to vote.
“This is a darn good first step,” said Commissioner Sally Heyman. “ To delay it is irresponsible.”
About 100 gay rights supporters waved “jazz hands” silently above their heads (protocol, in lieu of clapping in the commission chambers) to celebrate the vote which makes Miami-Dade the fourth–and largest– county in Florida to provide domestic partnership benefits.
“It’s a good policy for the county and for the state,” said Heddy Pena, executive director of SAVE. “ It’s a win–win all the way for county, for employees.”
But despite seemingly unanimous support for domestic partnership rights from the commissioners, the vote to approve the ordinance once and for all did not come easy.
Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz tried to delay the passage by amending the ordinance to include all family members into the measure, citing adults who raise grandchildren. At one point he called the domestic partnership ordinance “reverse discrimination.”
“I think the issue is to be inclusive and not set one group against another,’ Diaz said, making sure to say that he does not oppose providing domestic partnership rights.
But at a heated moment in his speech, Diaz claimed it was “unfair” to give rights to one group and not another. “If this were the other way around,” he said, “the ‘domestic partners’would be crying discrimination.”
Commissioners voted against Diaz’s amendment, after a lengthy discussion that seemed to pit providing health care to “families” against people who live in “domestic partnerships”– exactly what Diaz said he did not intend to do. However, Commissioner Katy Sorenson lambasted the Commission for considering a delay on the registry vote.
“This [ordinance] does not pit anyone against anyone,” said Sorenson. “It corrects an injustice.”
Elizabeth Schwartz, a Miami-Dade family law attorney, was present at the hearing in support of the measure. She claims Diaz was purposely trying to distort the issue, under the guise of politically- correct language.
“What ires them is legally recognizing [GLBT] relationships and families,” said Schwartz. “ To throw in everyone else dilutes the issue.”
Diaz, and commissioners Natacha Seijas and Rebeca Sosa, asked County Attorney R. A. Cuevas to find a way to attach an amendment to the ordinance include families into the resolution to be voted on Tuesday. Cuevas said the only way to amend the ordinance was by re- introducing it with Diaz’s suggestions, and thus delaying the process.
After his amendment was struck down, Diaz continued to question county staff about the ordinance, suggesting that it was not properly vetted and that economic studies were inadequate.At one point,he suggested changing the definition of domestic partners to include all members of a family.
“Domestic partners can be anything,” he said. “ There is no registered trademark on domestic partners.”
Diaz’s attempt to broaden the definition of domestic partners mirrors the failed attempt in the State Legislature to add specific language to protect GLBT students in the antibullying bill that was passed into law without specific categories. Even during the debate, the only Commissioner to acknowledge the GLBT community was Joe Martinez, who claimed the rest of the panel was dancing around the fact that the measure was “really about same-sex couples,” not domestic partnerships in general. He later voted to postpone the vote;when that was denied, he was one of the four Commissioners to vote against the measure.
Chip Arndt, of Freedom Democrats, said he was “”pleasantly shocked” to see the commission’s stance on GLBT issues.
“It’s wonderful that everyone agreed with us on the record,” Arndt said. “ This is pure politics. The big win was no commissioner stated they were against us.”
And while the vote represents a significant victory for Miami-Dade’s GLBT community, most of those who attended the commission meeting were well aware that domestic partnership benefits could be dismantled if the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage passes in November. Although she said she was pleased with the county commission vote, Pena remained wary.
“What’s important now,” she said. “Is that we defeat Amendment 2.”