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LGBT: Orlando Registry Begins 1/12

LGBT Issues – Orlando, Florida will soon have a lot more going for it other than Disney and Universal, when the new domestic-partnership registry goes into effect on Jan. 12.

The city unanimously approved the registry earlier this month, making Orlando the “first city in Central Florida to recognize the relationships of same-sex couples.”

Although the registry doesn’t provide all the legal benefits of marriage or civil-unions, it does have the benefit of allowing partners to have say in medical decisions, hospital visitations, and funeral arrangements, albeit only within Orlando. Still, it’s a step in the right direction and a good start.

All 16 available appointments for Jan. 12 have been booked, and from the looks of things, the clerk’s office will be busy for quite awhile with the influx of couples.

“I think there’s going to be incredible interest. We’re going to see a big surge in the beginning,” said Equality Florida field director Joe Saunders.

“It’s not as many rights as marriage, but it helps couples during very difficult times,” said Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan.

Sheehan “pushed for the law” and she “along with partner Jocelynn White, are slated to be an early signer of the registry.”

Even though the registry only applies to institutions in Orlando, many non-residents are expected to sign up, because, as Mayor Buddy Dyer said, “anyone in Central Florida could at some point be a patient at Orlando Health or Florida Hospital, the region’s two biggest hospitals. Both are in Orlando and thus required to treat registered partners as family members.”

Still, even non-Florida residents may make the clerk’s office their first stop when visiting Orlando, and use the registry as sort of “travel insurance” in case of emergency while traveling; for others, “the registry would be a chance to have the government, for the first time, officially acknowledge their relationship–even if it’s not their hometown government.”

Read more Here and Here.