New York’s Westchester county board approves domestic partner registry

A story published today by the Journal News reports that Westchester county, New York legislators voted mostly along party lines last night to create a domestic-partner registry that will make it easier for unmarried couples — both homosexual and heterosexual — to claim some of the rights of marriage, including the ability to obtain benefits for their partners from employers who offer them and to collect on a partner's life insurance policy.

The 12-5 vote for the bill ended two years of work in the legislature that climaxed with an emotional half-hour debate last night in which legislators evoked God, the Constitution and their own families to support their differing positions. All 11 Democratic legislators supported the bill. Of the six Republican legislators, only James Maisano supported it.

"This comes down to what kind of county do we want to live in, to raise a family in," said Maisano, R-New Rochelle. "If my son were gay, I'd knock down any barrier in his way so that he could live in an atmosphere of acceptance and tolerance."

"If this registry applied only to those who did not have another avenue to register their partnerships, I could and would support it," said Louis Mosiello, R-Yonkers. "But this registry would not exist only for the gay community, but also for heterosexual couples who would have an alternative vehicle outside marriage." In that way, Mosiello said the registry would be an "assault on the importance and sanctity of marriage."

"To me, this is political correctness gone amok," he said.

The bill does not require that employers or insurance companies provide benefits to the partners of unmarried couples, but only gives couples who register the documentation they may need to request the benefits. However, the bill will require that all nursing homes, hospitals and correction facilities that allow married couples to visit must also open their doors to the partners of unmarried couples who register.

Many of the 116 states and municipalities in the United States, including four municipalities in New York, that have registries give same-sex couples nothing more than the documentation needed to claim an insurance settlement or to file for a partner's health benefits, according to a list compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group.

The bill directs the county clerk to establish the registry, and creates an advisory board to oversee its implementation and operation. It would take effect 60 days after it is signed by the county executive.

"This registry is a matter of civil rights," said Zelle Andrews, a spokeswoman for the Rainbow Alliance of Westchester, a newly formed services organization for gays. "Those of us who favor it are not asking that anyone else's be taken away, only that ours be extended legally to include them."