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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2000)
ill. 2000 fTTTiTTTTVRTlnetvs b WI LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP I PRAY.. A A tf*.t ji*1% &hy*y*nt! UNIVERSITY PARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH • A Reconciling Congregation 4775 N. Lombard Street • Portland • 298-7843 • Worship 10 a.m . Are You 4 0 Years Old or d e tte r ? You May 3 e Eligible for a Free Women’s Health Exam All Women's H E A L T H A » V- . A service o f A ll Women s Health Services and the Multnomah County Breast & Cervical Cancer Program S E R V I C E * Women s health care with dignity, pride and individual choice. Learn more a t The Lesbian Body Shop January 25, 2 0 0 0 a t 7:30PM A t The YWCA 1111 SW 10th Avenue, Portland W ill Y ou R egister with M e ? Continued from the cover n Ashland, if couples decide to file their reg istration with the city, the information becomes public record and may be made available for others to see. 11 they opt against fil ing the registration, no public record of the domestic partnership will exist. In either case, couples are given a signed and notarized Certifi cate of Domestic Partnership. According to A nn Seltzer, a spokeswoman for the city of Ashland, as of Jan. 19, 16 lesbian and gay couples had registered; six of the couples elected to not he recorded in the city’s database, though they still received registry certificates. According to the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, 45 municipalities and states have established domestic partnership registries. Iowa City, Iowa, and Chapel Hill, N.C., are among the cities that have done so, and Seattle launched its registry in 1994. None exist within the Portland metropolitan area, though there is ongoing discussion about the possibility of implementing such a plan via the city of Portland, Multnomah County or both. The Focus Group on Family Rights, a project of Love Makes a Family, met Jan. 18 and in part pondered the idea of pursuing domestic partner ship registration within the city of Portland. Ten people attended the gathering. “There’s some steam behind this,” noted for mer state Rep. George Eighmey, the focus group’s chairman. But some critics maintain that domestic partnership registries are empty gestures— pure symbolism with no legal teeth— and a way for the government to take gay people’s money and in return give them an essentially meaningless piece of paper. “A stamped seal of nothing!” assessed one focus group attendee. Still, while domestic partnership registries often lack legal authority, proponents maintain they re a move toward public acknowledgment and increasing acceptability of gay and lesbian couples. I Said Eighmey: “This is not the end-all. We intend to proceed to getting full benefits and rights” afforded to married heterosexual couples. Eighmey distributed an informal "domestic partnership registry program proposal” that is designed to get folks thinking about the con cept. It asks, among other points, whether people feel a registry should be open exclusively to same-sex couples, as well as “to all citizens of the world, Oregonians only or U.S. citizens only?” Should it be limited to people 18 and older or 21 and older? How should concerns about confi dentiality be addressed, if at all? How about a dissolution process for couples who may some day want to deregister their partnership? Both city of Portland and Multnomah Coun ty officials are exploring the registry concept, which could become a reality in the not-too- distant future. “W e’re looking into this, though it’s still in the initial stages,” says Multnomah County Commissioner Lisa N aito, who adds, “I do believe if we had a well-thought-out proposal, we’d have the votes to pass it.” Maura Roche of Basic Rights Oregon, a statewide group th at advocates for gay and les bian rights, says BRO “has been looking at and discussing this and other issues.... We have made ourselves available to the mayor’s office.” If Portland an d /o r M ultnom ah County moves ahead w ith a registry, it remains to be seen if there will any conservative backlash. In Ashland, some opponents did speak out against the registry during debate prior to the City C ouncil’s vote. Since then, however, things have seemed quiet. “People have been very appreciative of the program,” Seltzer says. ■ How do you feel about a domestic partnership registry? Would you and your partner sign up! Should it be open to heterosexual couples who choose not to marry! Is it a waste of time and money! Is it a building block toward full equality! Submit a letter to the editor at www.justout.com; mail it to justout@justout.com or P.O. Box 14400, Portland, O R 97293-0400. Just O u t’s fax number is (503) 236-1257. For questions or comments about Just Outs Northwest, national or world news coverage, please send an e-mail to News Editor IN G A SORENSEN at mga@justout .com. For more information call Aryne at All Women’s Health Services, (503) 233-0808 w'ant a I^R Ea T Haflacl/t ? $25 B u N ( n a r J f d ( J 1$ SHOULD UBSSSS TO jflirt/fog G rew 3621 sEUJUntho^NlS f c , $ 3^ .Po (O R SUFFER th e < 3 n s‘® IS fflC f3 ) ss®*"*" An unofficial registry proposal and tool to generate community feedback oEo.o^*11
