Dade approves domestic-partner benefits

By MATTHEW I. PINZUR, mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com

Unmarried couples in Miami-Dade won the right to hospital and jail visitation on Tuesday, following an 8-4 vote by the County Commission, and county employees will be able to buy health coverage for their partners.

Couples will be able to register their partnerships with the county's Consumer Services Department by late August. The system is open to unmarried, nonrelated couples -- gay or straight -- who are at least 18 and live together.

''It's a matter of compassion, a matter of correcting an injustice, a matter of moving forward as a progressive county,'' said Commissioner Katy Sorenson.

County staff estimated 900 couples would file this year.

Those couples would have the same visitation rights as spouses in Miami-Dade healthcare facilities, jails and juvenile detention centers. In addition to being able to visit each other, they would have the same rights as spouses to visit a partner's children and parents.

For county workers, the option to buy health insurance would extend to their domestic partner and that partner's children.

The legislation is hardly revolutionary, mirroring years-old policies in Broward and Palm Beach county governments, the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts and some localmunicipalities. Couples who have a valid domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement from another government would automatically receive the rights in Miami-Dade.

''It's a long time coming,'' said Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro. ``I support this as a proud Republican.''

One opponent, Commissioner Joe Martinez, said advocates were using the cost issues and arguments about insurance as covers for legitimizing gay partnerships.

''This is about same-sex partners, period,'' he said. ``It's not about domestic partners -- call it what it is.''

Its passage had been widely expected, especially after an alternative version sputtered in committee last week. It was co-sponsored by commissioners Bruno Barreiro, Audrey Edmonson, Carlos Gimenez, Sally Heyman, Barbara Jordan and Katy Sorenson. Commissioners Dennis Moss and Rebeca Sosa also voted for it, and Commissioner Javier Souto was absent.

Opponents, including a coalition of religious leaders, fought the proposal on moral and financial fronts. They said the county cannot afford the $2,200 it costs to subsidize insurance for each partner, the same it already spends on spouses.

At the same time, however, many supported the alternative, which would have covered both domestic partners and live-in relatives -- and therefore required more county subsidy.

Neither side could find any government that offers such a plan, and insurance experts said that lack of real-world experience would make it hard to determine the right price for premiums.

The alternative, sponsored by Commissioners José ''Pepe'' Diaz, Natacha Seijas and Dorrin Rolle, is not dead -- under direction from the commission, Mayor Carlos Alvarez's administration is studying it further.

''Once this passes, the other one will fail to pass,'' Martinez said of the domestic-partner policy. ``Everyone who's voting for it now will say it's no longer about compassion, it's about money.''

Diaz tried to resuscitate the alternative on the dais, saying the Christian Coalition's support for a plan that includes domestic partners was unprecedented. But the commission rejected his requests to add relatives to the plan or put off a vote until June.

''If this discussion was being made only for the families, the domestic partners would be feeling the same way and feeling discriminated,'' Diaz said. ``This is actually reverse discrimination.''

Comments

[Cristy]

Mr. Joe Martinez needs to change with the times. Most insurance will cover relatives as long as they reside with you. Domestic Partners and same sex partners have always been discriminated in Dade County. This is a sign of progressive. Mr. Martinez needs to study the economy and realize who pumps the money into his county because at this moment we (domestic partners & same-sex partners) are equally as important as his so called "relatives". He should apologize for making such remarks as a public figure!