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Loading ...Columbia, Mo. passes partner registry
04.07.2009 1:21pm EDT
(Columbia, Missouri) By unanimous vote, Columbia city council has voted to establish a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples who choose not to marry.
While registering does not offer any specific rights in the city, it could be used as proof of a relationship for anyone wishing to add a partner to their employee health benefits in companies that offer health insurance to domestic partners.Under the law, a couple must pay a $25 fee to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, which will maintain the registry.
Couples must attest they have lived together for at least 6 months. Each partner must be at least 18 years old and be mentally competent to form a contract. Partners must not be related by blood any closer than would bar a marriage in Missouri. Nor can they be married to any other person.
The registry had the support of Mayor Darwin Hindman who said it shows “that this is an open, receptive community, tolerant community, of everybody. That’s important, I think for our self-respect and for the quality of life that we want to have in our community.”
The measure also had the support of the Columbia Human Rights Commission and a broad number of citizens who packed the council chamber to make impact statements before the vote.
One of them, a retired United Methodist pastor, received a standing ovation from the public gallery when he made an impassioned plea for passage.
“These, my brothers and sisters, are the last group that has not yet been given what is their right,” Rev. Dick Blount told the council. “That’s all we’re asking for. We’re not trying to make the issue complex.”
This proves that we as a community are taking bigger steps towards equality and fairness.
It is a step. People are beginning to have the guts to get over their embarassment, admit they were wrong in the past.
And that is really of enormous significance. Having spent much of my life in the tech sales business, One of the key lessons was that if you could get a potential customer into a position where he would or feared he would be embarassed in ssome way by not buying your product, you had won the war. But you have to have been there to really understand the nuances.
This is really a big deal, though there is obviously a long way to go there.
I stand corrected Ben W. Thanks.
Maybe in a few years, people will fight for more.
St. Louis already has a registry, right?
This is nothing more than a way for MO to another $25.00 out of it’s citizens without providing even the slightest benefit. They might as well go door to door and demand a dollar or two from everyone – oh, but wait, that might provide jobs. The registry is cheaper.
Neil
Courtney,
The Missouri constitution only bans gay marriage. Civil unions and domestic partnerships can still be legislated under Missouri law.
To be fair Jay, I think if they offered benefits, it would be in violation of Missouri’s constitution. If it’s anything like the AR constitution, it bans anything similar to marriage that is open to same-sex couples. (The AR const. doesn’t say it in those words but basically civil unions and domestic partnerships that confer rights are in violation of the constitution)
I would never think Columbia would do this.
Since it confers no benefits, this is a very cheap way to maintain Columbia’s “self-respect.” I’d have more respect for Columbia if it truly was an open, receptive, and tolerant community.
“These, my brothers and sisters, are the last group that has not yet been given what is their right,” Rev. Dick Blount told the council. “That’s all we’re asking for. We’re not trying to make the issue complex.”
Further proof that religion is not always our enemy.