Florida Proposition #2

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Published on Thursday, 02 October 2008

Written by Tom Maher, ACLU Florida

There are only four and a half weeks until the polls close in Florida, and our work to defeat proposed Amendment 2 is in full swing. If Amendment 2 passes, it would dramatically impact unmarried straight couples, including many seniors, who represent a significant portion of the 360,000 cohabitating couples in Florida. Without domestic partnership registries, partners who have not gone through a more complex and costly process of executing additional legal documents are, in the eyes of the law, strangers to each other. The impact on seniors is particularly significant given the crucial healthcare and other decisions that one partner may be making for the other partner in the later years of life.

One very important element of our campaign to defeat Amendment 2 in Florida is the collection of stories from Floridians. We need to put a name and face to our campaign whenever possible. In particular, we invite those who have enrolled on a local domestic partnership registry, especially seniors, to write to us about your story.

Many seniors who chose not to remarry in order to avoid the loss of social security and pensions from a previous marriage have enrolled on a local domestic partnership registry. Currently the following Florida cities and counties have domestic partnership registries:

• Gainesville
• Key West
• Miami Beach
• West Palm Beach
• Palm Beach County
• Broward County

Please take the time to share your story or help someone you know share their story.

Sincerely,

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