The Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs approved the Families First Bill, a proposed statewide domestic partner registry, in a 5-4 vote April 1.
At the hearing in Tallahassee, all of the bill’s supporters who showed up to testify opted to “waive and support,” which means they did not speak but stated that they back the statewide domestic partner registry.
“We secured the votes we needed just before the hearing,” said Orlando attorney and LGBT activist Mary Meeks, one of the people scheduled to speak. “So as a courtesy to Senator [Eleanor] Sobel and Senator [Nancy] Detert, who had bills they were sponsoring in other Committee hearings, we agreed to waive our public comment to speed things along so they could leave to present their other bills.”
The only two speakers were in opposition to the bill. One of them was John Stemberger with the Florida Family Council who is a notorious local anti-gay activist.
Stemberger distributed to the Senators a document that outlined communities that created domestic partner registries, which then had marriage equality follow.
“[At the last hearing on the bill], the proponents were saying that it was not marriage but when the debate came, the esteemed senator and others were talking about marriage and that’s what it was about,” he said. “[Domestic partner registries] are not good public policy because of the precedent they set for same sex marriage.”
A previous vote on the bill was scheduled for March 12, but several members of the Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs were unable to attend the meeting, including key supporter Sen. Geralidine Thompson (D-Orange County).
Sen. Sobel (D-Hollywood) first filed the bill in January, then refiled it for the March vote and again for today’s vote.
On Feb. 19, the committee rejected the bill despite strong support from speakers in favor of the registry. Several of the Senators – including Sen. Detert (R-Sarasota) – who indicated that they would not move the bill forward said it was because the bill was not specific enough in the rights it would provide domestic partners.
“The re-write of the Bill (making it clearer and narrower and delineating the rights granted) flipped Detert’s vote,” Meeks said. “It passed today because Senator de la Portilla was absent – when I spoke to him last he said he did not know how he intended to vote, but his absence gave us a 5-4 victory.”
Here’s how the votes broke down:
- Senator Eleanor Sobel (D) – YES
- Vice Chair: Senator Alan Hays (R) – NO
- Senator Thad Altman (R) – NO
- Senator Oscar Braynon, II (D) – YES
- Senator Jeff Clemens (D) – YES
- Senator Charles S. “Charlie” Dean, Sr. (R) – NO
- Senator Nancy C. Detert (R) – YES
- Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla (R) – NOT PRESENT
- Senator Denise Grimsley (R) – NO
- Senator Geraldine F. “Geri” Thompson (D) – YES
After the vote, Sobel thanked the room for attending and waiving their time.
“The bill passes today and we have made history in the Florida senate,” she said. “We look forward to making this a reality eventually in the state of Florida because it’s really about fundamental fairness.”
According to Meeks, the bill confers seven rights to couples registered as domestic partners: hospital visitation, correctional facility visitation, right to make funeral arrangements, healthcare decisions when the partner is incapacitated, inheritance rights and the right to own property together.
