Dayton considers ordinance for domestic partner registry

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DAYTON — City Commission is considering an ordinance to establish a domestic partnership registry for unmarried couples without regard to sexual orientation.

According to the ordinance, which will get a first reading at this morning’s commission meeting, it does not recognize such partnerships as marriages or anything that “approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.”

The soonest the commission would vote on the ordinance is May 2.

Commissioner Nan Whaley said the ordinance is an effort to make the city “more open to everyone. The biggest piece of this is how Dayton can be welcoming to all people.

“We want to be open for business for all kinds of people,” she said.

The registry is voluntary, and a couple does not need to live in the city. The ordinance says the registry will assist “businesses and universities in the recruitment of a talented and diverse workforce.”

“I think the main reason we’re looking at this is because we want to make sure Dayton is seen as unbiased and fair, a fair city to all,” Commissioner Joey Williams said.

If the proposed ordinance passes, Dayton would join hundreds of cities across the country that have similar registries. In Ohio, the cities of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Toledo and Athens and the Village of Yellow Springs have similar ordinances.

The registry would help area businesses that extend benefits to the partners of employees — straight or gay — by having a formal registry of such committed relationships. By having a single registry of domestic partnerships, it would make it easier for hospitals, universities, employers and others to verify the relationships. Verification is needed for matters such as health insurance, hospital visitation rights and authorization to pick up children after school.

“It will help many people to have a document they can present to their employer so their partner can get the benefits should the company provide them,” said Randy Phillips of the Greater Dayton Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Center.

While many area hospitals allow domestic partners to visit their partners in the hospital, only immediate family is allowed to visit those in intensive care units, he said. “Now there would be a document that would make them family,” he said.

To register, the couple must first file a declaration of domestic partnership with the city. To qualify, the couple would have to show they share a residence; affirm they have a committed relationship; that neither is married; that neither is part of another domestic partnership; that each is 18 or older and not related by blood.

For a $50 fee, the couple would then be listed on the registry. The ordinance also includes language should the partnership end.

The ordinance also specifies that nothing in the ordinance “shall be interpreted to alter or contravene county, state or federal law.”