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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
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Urbana City Council Votes to Establish Domestic Partner Registry |
Current rating: 0 |
by Danielle Chynoweth, Urbana City Council Member
(No verified email address) |
26 Jan 2005
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On Monday, the Urbana City Council voted 6-1 to direct staff and the city clerk to establish a plan for Domestic Partner Registry in Urbana. The plan will return to council for a final vote. Here is the motion, e-mail addresses of those who supported and opposed the motion, and a copy of the memo I brought to council with a few updates.
The News-Gazette has an article about Monday's vote and a poll about whether Urbana should have a Domestic Partner Registry. Right now, the "nos" are ahead: http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=17565 |
DOMESTIC PARTNER REGISTRY MOTION
I move that we direct the City Clerk and staff to prepare a plan for a domestic partnership registry. There shall be no Urbana residency or citizenship requirements for registration.
“”Domestic partner” refers to adults in a close and committed relationship of mutual financial and emotional support.
Registered Domestic Partners shall at minimum, receive:
- a certificate of domestic partnership
- wallet sized versions of the above certificate
- an informational packet about what this status does not convey, resources for how to protect a unmarried relationship, and places in the community that recognize domestic partnerships, to the best of the city's knowledge.
A fee shall be charged for registration to cover the cost of the program.
COUNCIL MEMBERS WHO SUPPORTED THE MOTION:
Danielle Chynoweth - chyn (at) ojctech.com (sponsor)
Ruth Wyman - rewyman (at) hotmail.com (co-sponsor)
Esther Patt - estherpatt (at) hotmail.com
Chris Alix - cealix (at) city.urbana.il.us
Dennis Roberts - droberts (at) uillinois.edu
Jim Hayes - jhhayes (at) city.urbana.il.us
OPPONENTS:
Joe Whelan, Republican from Ward 6 - jawhelan (at) city.urbana.il.us
SOME HISTORY
Due to state of Illinois Law (Defense of Marriage Act), same sex couples do not have the legal right to civil marriage. Yet Urbana is home to same sex couples living in committed relationships, sometimes with children and/or extended family. In addition, Urbana is home to opposite couples living as unmarried partners, whether because they have not yet married or do not wish to marry.
Urbana has a long, distinguished history of opposing discrimination based on sex orientation and marital status. Urbana was the first city in the state to pass a human rights ordinance prohibiting this type of discrimination. Our largest employer, the University of Illinois, has a process by which domestic partners are registered for the sake of providing benefits.
PROBLEMS UNMARRIED COUPLES FACE
Unmarried couples are faced with regular problems; they can not:
- file taxes jointly and enjoy the economic benefits of doing so
- inherit without a will
- make gifts to one another without paying taxes
- receive social security and veteran benefits upon the death of a partner
- receive payment from retirement savings upon death of a partner
- require child support from a partner who abandons them
- convey citizenship status to their immigrated partner
- necessarily visit their unconscious partner in the hospital and direct their care
- necessarily gain possession of the body of their loved one or direct funeral arrangements
(sources: glad.org and lambdalegal.org)
The city of Urbana has little power to remedy these problems, since Urbana does not have the jurisdiction to provide marriage licenses. At the very least, until there is marriage equality on the state and federal level, we can update our own codes to reflect unmarried partners and provide a Domestic Partner Registry for unmarried partners to register their relationships.
CODE AND POLICY UPDATE
Currently Urbana code and policy has at least three places where the relationship of domestic partner is relevant:
1) Our over-occupancy law that prohibits more than 4 unrelated people living together.
2) The gift ban exception in our ethics ordinance includes the language "domestic partner" but does not provide a definition.
3) Our personnel policies provide for partial benefits (excluding health insurance) to the partners of our employees in same-sex relationships. This policy includes a process by which an employee proves domestic partner status.
In our code and zoning ordinance, wherever mention is made of persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, we should make necessary changes to:
1) include domestic partners registered with the city of Urbana and
2) treat foster children in the same manner as children born or adopted into a family.
DOMESTIC PARTNER REGISTRY
Dozens of cities and counties and a handful of states provide domestic partner registries, including Cook County and Oak Park, Illinois.
There are several benefits to providing such a registry:
1) The city can know, for the sake of code enforcement, who qualifies as a domestic partner.
2) Employers who offer domestic partner benefits will have one place to go to determine domestic partner status for their employees. A registry can save employers time and paperwork.
3) When partners come to register at the city, they can receive valuable information about what this status does and does not provide. In this way, unmarried couples can be educated as to what steps they need to take to protect themselves. They can also find out places in the community that acknowledge domestic partners such as the U of I and the park district, and the way local hospitals and clinics acknowledge domestic partnerships.
4) A domestic partner registry provides partners with recognition of their relationship. The New-Gazette does not publish a public record of same-sex commitment ceremonies nor do they acknowledge same-sex partners in their obituaries.
The News-Gazette has an accurate, well-written article on this at: http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=17565 |
This work is in the public domain. |
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Re: Urbana City Council Votes to Establish Domestic Partner Registry |
by Ricky Baldwin
baldwinricky (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
29 Jan 2005
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Congratulations on an overwhelming majority for doing the right thing!
I think we need to remember that polls like the News-Gazette's are nothing close to scientific. The respondents are self-selected, not random. It means nothing.
You go, folks! |
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Re: Urbana City Council Votes to Establish Domestic Partner Registry |
by council watcher
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Jan 2005
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The council will probably vote this plan for the Domestic Partnership Registry. This can be a very good service for the people in our community of Urbana, and I agree with the council that it should be "neutral" regarding the fees. (I think that was the terminology). However, if the service is extended to citizens who live outside of the city of Urbana boundary, then we should expect them to pay an "out- of -community" fee just like for other services. It seems like Urbana can and should make a profit from this very unusual and specific service that no other community is offering. |
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There is a fee |
by Dose of Reality
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Jan 2005
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Everyone using the registry pays a one-time fee. I see no reason to justify charging more to people who are non-residents, since this involves no extra costs for the city to do so and the intention of the fee is to make the service self-supporting. Besides, part of the reason for the service to extend to non-residents is because many of those using the registry are anticipated to be working for employers in Urbana, who may want to use the registry to verify benefits they give to committed couples.
I am always amazed that there are people who always seek to exclude various parts of our society from its benefits on the flimisiest of reasons. |
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Re: Urbana City Council Votes to Establish Domestic Partner Registry |
by jm
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
02 Feb 2005
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"Our largest employer, the University of Illinois, has a process by which domestic partners are registered for the sake of providing benefits."
Actually they only recognize this if you are of the same sex. So if you are heterosexual you still have to get married to your partner. |
