Orlando and Orange County’s domestic partner registries proved to be popular, with nearly 900 couples registering as domestic partners in 2012.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, 759 couples registered with the city of Orlando since it was created on Jan. 12, and 134 registered in Orange County, which adopted a similar registry in July. After an initial rush, with 297 couples registering with the city in January and February, new couples registered have remained steady at about 40 to 50 per month.
The registries provide seven key rights to those couples who register including health care facility visitation, jail visitation, emergency notification, health care decisions, funeral/burial decisions, and public education participation with a partner’s child.
In addition to domestic partnerships, the county offers the HELP system, which allows people to designate any person to be a surrogate in emergency situations. HELP stands for Health, Education and Life Protections. Since July, 6, 22 couples have filed under HELP.
About fourteen percent, or 109 couples, who registered with the city were opposite sex, according to the Orlando Sentinel report.
