BREAKING: Leon County Passes Domestic Partnership Registry 7-0

BREAKING: Leon County Passes Domestic Partnership Registry 7-0

By a unanimous vote, the Leon County Commission voted to create a countywide Domestic Partnership Registry (DPR) becoming the first county in North Florida and the latest in a string of communities across the state that now provide valuable legal protections for gay couples and unmarried opposite-sex partners.

"The tide is shifting rapidly towards fairness in Florida," said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida. "These victories across the state in communities large and small, rural and metropolitan, show that equal rights and protecting all of our families is a shared value and ought to be the law statewide."

While the majority of Floridians now live in communities that provide Domestic Partnership Registries, not all Floridians are protected. The Florida Legislature will have the opportunity to remedy that. A bill called Families First has been introduced this session and would extend Domestic Partnership protections statewide.

Kudos to Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley for spearheading the effort and to ALL of the Commissioners for voting YES.  Special thanks to Equality Florida Board Chair Jim VanRiper, who has been leading this charge for months. Thank you to Steven Hall from The Family Tree, Andy Janecek from the Capitol City GLBTA Democrats and Susan Gage from PFLAG for speaking out in favor of the proposal. We are so proud of all the Equality Florida members and concerned citizens who showed up and spoke out, without your engagement this wouldn’t be possible!

The DPR will open on May 1st, and the county plans to charge a fee to register. We will share more details as we get them.