We area unity coalition of individuals and community organizations dedicated to the pursuit of equality and dignity for all LGBT Floridians. We stand united in this common purpose, and we encourage other likeminded people throughout Central Florida to join us. (To join our email list, please contact us at the bottom of the page.) _______________________
The State of Florida still endorses anti-gay discrimination. The City of Orlando DOES NOT.
Registry Roller Coaster Ride
(May 17) After presenting a plan that dissed the gay community, Mayor Jacobs got an earful from many, many people in the LGBT community, the media and political folks too. On Thursday afternoon she had her plan rewritten to actually expand the Orlando DP registry to all of Orange County - as she once said she would do months ago. She has until Tuesday to change her mind, but for now we might be able to say that there will be recognition of same-sex families in Orange County. We hope she really means it this time, and according to the written pages, which OADO has analyzed, it looks for real. OADO members worked tirelessly for 2 years to accomplish this feat. Thank you Mary Meeks and team OADO for persevering for the community!! We still urge you to attend the Commission meeting Tuesday at 2pm. Dressed in red - perhaps for the final time!
Jacobs' Plan is No HELP to Gay Families - Strips DP Status
(May 17, 2012) After "considering" a domestic partnership registry for over a year, and after saying in February that she would "expand" the Orlando DP Registry countywide, Teresa Jacobs has decided not to support a DP Registry.
The Sentinel recently wrote of Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs' "twin proposal" of expanding the Orlando DPR, and creating her "HELP Ordinance." However, Jacobs' proposal does NOT recognize or expand the Orlando DP Registry on a countywide basis as advertised. It says that if you are registered as Domestic Partners in Orlando you are absorbed into the "HELP Ordinance" - but you are stripped of your status as Domestic Partners outside the city limits. Domestic Partner families will not be recognized and protected as families by Orange County, and will not have access to various rights and benefits that attach to the official status of "Domestic Partner," such as employer DP health insurance, pension benefits, and DP benefits offered by businesses. Jacobs, who avowedly opposes marriage equality, designed her plan this way specifically to AVOID any recognition of gay families. Her plan adopts the framework of a "designated beneficiary agreement" suggested to her last June by anti-gay activist John Stemberger at a County Commission Meeting. Since that time Jacobs sought and received advice on this issue from GOP strategist, John Dowless, a friend of Stemberger's and a former head of the Florida Christian Coalition.
Please attend the Orange County Commission meeting, Tuesday, May 22 at 2:00pm when the Jacobs' non-DPR ordinance will be presented for a vote. Community leaders will ask commissioners to vote instead for an enforceable Domestic Partnership Registry for Orange County.
How does a domestic partnership registry compare to the bogus "designated beneficiary agreement" plan from Jacobs & Stemberger? Check the OADO chart. >>>>
(May 9, 2012) Perhaps Barack Obama was as dismayed by yesterday's North Carolina amendment vote as we were. Perhaps, like Harvey Milk, he wanted to give gays hope today, so he did when he unequivocally endorsed marriage during an interview with ABC News. Mr. Obama has now staked his re-election on our right to marriage. If you don't have an Obama bumper sticker, get one now. If you haven't contributed to his campaign, do so now. If you want civil rights during your lifetime, support Barack Obama now. GOP candidate, Mitt Romney, immediately announced that he would pursue a federal amendment to ban marriage.
READ THE LETTER HERE: OADO responded on February 3 to Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs regarding their meeting which took place on January 26 about a proposed county DP registry. At the contentious meeting Mayor Jacobs expressed an unwillingness to acknowledge, or fully protect, domestic partners through a legally enforceable countywide registry like the City of Orlando's. In attendance at that Jan. 26 meeting was Jacobs' political consultant, John Dowless, an anti-gay lobbyist formerly of the Christian Coalition, who is still linked to Ralph Reed, and who is a friend of John Stemberger. (Stemberger urged Jacobs NOT to support a DP registry last summer.) John Dowless is also a consultant to County Commissioners Boyd and Thompson. It should be asked of all candidates and elected officials, why do you seek counsel from an anti-gay lobbyist like John Dowless? OADO's written response to the Jacobs meeting can be read in full below...
John Dowless, a Jacobs campaign consultant and former leader of the FloridaChristian Coalition, indicated during the mayor's recent summit with gay groups that the future of a county registry was in doubt.
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Overwhelming First Week for Orlando DP Registry! Over 140 couples have made reservations at City Hall, over 80 couples have registered in the first week! (Numbers provided by Orlando city officials to OADO)
Olen and Jeff, life partners of 30 years, officially registered this week
Register your relationship with the City of Orlando now, no matter where you live. It will assure that in times of crisis you will be treated as family to each other while you are hospitalized within the city limits. Keep writing Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and tell her that she must extend the registry to all establishments in the county to assure that our families are treated with respect and dignity - like all families.
A City Hall Love Fest in Orlando (January 12, 2012) With a harpist playing beautifully in the atrium downstairs at City Hall, couples upstairs were lined up to enter the City Clerk's office and sign their domestic partnership forms. Mayor Dyer and city staff were wearing red in solidarity, and dozens of TV, radio and print journalists were everywhere. What a great day! Thank you OADO and the Orlando community for getting us to this place. Maybe one day in our lifetime full equality will be ours!!
Mayor Jacobs Sides with Stemberger! (January 10, 2012) Teresa Jacobs decided to kill a countywide DP registry and instead opted for homophobe John Stemberger's idea. On June 21, 2011, anti-gay activist John Stemberger appeared at a county hearing and asked Jacobs not to pursue a county DP registry and not to recognize gay families. He then introduced the idea that gay couples simply need another worthless piece of paper called a "beneficiary agreement," not legally enforceable rights like those granted to the community by the City of Orlando through their DP registry. Jacobs clearly tried to pull a fast one by unveiling her Stemberger Plan at a surprise press conference just 2 hours prior to OADO's community town hall event at The Center - where Jacobs' disingenuous spin was evicerated by OADO members. Read Billy Manes account of the Jacobs press conference: http://blogs.orlandoweekly.com/index.php/2012/01/breaking-teresa-jacobs-will-not-pursue-domestic-partner-registry/
Orlando DP Registry Passes, 7-0 Vote! (Dec. 12, 2011) The Orlando City Council voted unanimously in favor of Central Florida's domestic partnership registry Monday afternoon. The news was met with a standing ovation from a sea of red-clad supporters who filled the chamber. The registry will become available on January 12, 2012 and will provide 7 key protections for unmarried parters, gay and straight. We urge all same-sex couples across the state, nation and world who visit Orlando to register your partnership with the City!
Move the slider in 55 minutes and watch the City Council vote unanimously in favor of the historic Orlando Domestic Partnership Registry on December 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT_6KJdtOls
Celebrating at City Hall after the vote!
"There are economic reasons to pass this ordinance, but that's not why I'm so supportive of it. I'm supportive of this ordinance because it's simply the right thing to do and it's the right time to do it, and I hope that Orange County will join us." Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer Dec 5th City Council Hearing regarding the DP Registry
Orlando Sentinel editors say "overdue" domestic partnership registry is about "fundamental fairness" and urges Orange County to stop dragging its feet and join Orlando. (Dec. 3, 2011)
John Stemberger Now Engaged in Opposition to DP Registry
(June 21) John Stemberger officially went on record this morning before the Orange County Commission in opposition to an Orlando-Orange County domestic partner registry. The homophobe community is now engaged.
Mary Meeks, Gina Duncan and Kathryn Norsworthy, three members of the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee, also spoke before the Orange County Commission this morning urging all members to support Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's intention to create a domestic partner registry for Central Florida. Mayor Dyer recently wrote Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs suggesting that they work together on one registry so as to cover more people and not be duplicative. Mayor Jacobs expressed to Dyer that she had no time to address this issue currently, but would take it up at a later date after Mayor Dyer had initiated work on a city-only registry. She reiterated that opinion this morning, saying that to do it right would require more research and discussion, and that it would have to wait until later in the year when staff and time could be allocated to it.
John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Policy Council and co-father of Florida's anti-gay Amendment 2, spoke to the commission and disingenuously stated that gay couples can simply execute documents to secure rights like visitation and funerals - an outright lie. He of course sees no need for a registry and falsely expressed that our community would be opposed to a registry that would include straight unmarried couples. (We are in favor of an inclusive registry for all unmarried couples, straight or gay.)
One Orlando and OADO will be undertaking an educational campaign to make information available to all in and out of the community about the potential benefits of a domestic partner registry. We need your voices! Stay tuned here.
Orlando Sentinel Urges Mayors Dyer & Jacobs to Work Together on DP Registry
(June 16 Editorial)
Coming together
Here's a way for Central Florida's high-profile but estranged couple — Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs — to show the region they can work together. They can craft a domestic-partner registry, applicable in both their jurisdictions, which would give unmarried couples legal rights to visit their hospitalized partners and make funeral arrangements for their partners. It also could allow them to pick up a partner's child from school. The registry would apply to straight and gay couples.
Dyer and Jacobs agree it makes sense for them to work on establishing a registry together. But Jacobs says the county may not be able to act for several months.
Other Florida communities, from Broward and Miami-Dade counties to cities including Gainesville and West Palm Beach, have found the time to pass registries. It's time our leaders did, too.
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Reading Between the Letters: Mayors Dyer and Jacobs Differ on Urgency of Need for Domestic Partner Registry...
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (D) wrote a letter on May 17 to Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs (R) urging her to work with the city this summer on creating a unified domestic partner registry for all citizens of Orlando and Orange County so as not to duplicate efforts. Mayor Jacobs wrote a letter on June 14 to Mayor Dyer stating that the DP registry is not an immediate priority for the county - tells the city to proceed without county for now.
Southern Baptist Watch Why is a 19th century church making public policy in Florida in the 21st century?
There is no greater threat to the civil rights of LGBT people and women than the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. They are actively engaged in Tallahassee where they have been welcomed by our conservative government to help make public policy. The SBC is opposed to all civil rights protections for LGBT people, and is still advocating for a new anti-gay adoption measure. The SBC was also behind all 18 anti-choice bills of the 2011 Legislature. Additionally, legislative leaders Dean Cannon and Mike Haridopolos are both members of Southern Baptist churches.
Facts About Florida's Southern Baptists: Have employed a lobbyist in Tallahassee for 16 years. Were credited by John Stemberger for the passage of Amendment 2 in 2008. Have over 2,300 churches and 1 million members in Florida. Encourage families to send gay children to "reparative therapy" to be "cured." Believe women "should submit graciously to their husbands" who are to lead the family. Only allow men to lead their congregations. Condemn feminism. Vowed they will never honor any legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Encourage political actions against LGBT equality. Define same-sex relationships as "wicked," "of the devil," "perverted," "abominations."
For more on the Southern Baptist conspiracy in Florida politics, please read:
Justice for Ryan... Hear Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo and Circuit Judge J. Michael Hunter condemn the anti-gay hatred behind the murder of Polk County's Ryan Skipper. William Brown and Joseph Bearden were both found guilty and sentenced to life prison in 2009.
Labor Union Members Rally Against Hate... After an incident of anti-gay vandalism at The Center of Central Florida, allies from many organized labor groups staged a November rally in support of the LGBT community.
Vigil for Craig Cohen... On October 15, 2009, a candlelight vigil was held in Orlando for hate crime murder victim Craig Cohen of South Florida.
Milk at Come Out with Pride '09... Harvey's nephew, Stuart Milk, addressed the crowd at Orlando's 2009 Come Out with Pride on Sunday, October 11.
The Genesis of One Orlando... A united LGBT community gathered outside Orlando City Hall to protest the passage of Amendment 2, Florida's same-sex marriage ban, in November 2008.
