Orlando commission OKs domestic partner benefits

News release from Equality Florida:

I just left the Orlando City Commission Chambers and wanted to share the great news with you as soon as I could.

Orlando City Commissioners just unanimously voted to provide city employees with domestic partner health insurance for same-sex couples.

Today's vote makes Orlando the 35th governmental employer in Florida to offer some form of Domestic Partner protections.

Special thanks to Commissioner Sheehan and all of our Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee (OADO) partners, including Orlando PFLAG and Log Cabin Republicans, for working so hard to gain these protections.

Equality Florida has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with local leaders and our Orlando members providing powerful grassroots support, policy language drafts and other resources to get this measure passed.

This is a huge victory and these protections will help the families of Orlando employees to care for one another. But there's still work to be done. Even as we celebrate this important decision, we must fight hard to protect these benefits by defeating Amendment #2 on the November 4th ballot.

The fate of Amendment 2 is "too close to call," according to recent media analyses. Don't let this election day come and go and wonder if we could have gotten one more community involved in phone banking, or if one more team should have gone out and knocked on doors.

Equality Florida is a lead partner in the Fairness for All Families' Vote No On 2 campaign, which includes over 260 progressive organizations working to defeat Amendment #2. Join the fight at www.VoteNoOn2.com!

Sincerely,
Mallory Wells
Public Policy Director

P.S. We need you! If you live in the Orlando area and would like to volunteer with the Vote No On 2 Campaign during this weekend's Come Out with Pride celebration, click here (http://www.votenoon2.com/eventslist.aspx?id=4&regi=2) and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

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