CLEVELAND HEIGHTS - Doug Braun and his partner of 14 years cannot wait for this morning when they will go to City Hall and add their names to a registry recognizing them as domestic partners.
They will take home a notarized application from the city, the first in the nation to create the nonbinding registry through a vote.
The couple and an estimated 100 others will walk away with a piece of paper that legally means nothing.
But to Braun, 42, and his partner, Brian DeWitt, 48, it will be the most important day of their lives.
It's not a marriage
Braun said. For us it's a show of our commitment to each other; it's something concrete that we can hold on to and show all of the thousands of hours we put in to work on this.
In November, voters of the Cleveland suburb of 50,000 people approved the first ballot-box recognition for gay and straight unmarried partners by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.
Today - less than a week after the legislature passed one of the country's most far-reaching gay marriage bans - the city will open the first domestic-partner registry in the state.
The recognition is not marriage and it is not binding in courts, governments or private companies. But supporters hope it will make it easier for couples to share employment benefits, inherit property or get hospital visiting rights.
Opponents, including the Cleveland Heights Family First Initiative, say it is wrong for a city to legitimize a lifestyle many disagree with. A statement from the group said the registry attempts to redefine marriage and that will have very serious negative effects on our society as a whole.
Keli Zehnder, 37, and her partner, Deborah Smith, 44, know that the registry will not have any legal weight. The couple of seven years have powers of attorney and wills spelling out their wishes regarding each other and their two young daughters.
But Zehnder said it is important that they register on the first day as a payoff for the intense campaign that led to the vote.
This piece of paper feels more meaningful than the other stuff even though the other stuff is more valid in some ways. This is something that I worked on for 18 months she said.
Cleveland Heights is a university town that also is home to middle- and upper-class professionals. It boasts funky clothing shops, artsy cafes, family-owned restaurants and historical homes.
According to the U.S. Census, 52.5 percent of its residents are white and 42 percent black. The rest are Hispanic, Asian or other backgrounds. Only 970 people, or 1.9 percent of the citizens, reported living with an unmarried partner.
Mayor Edward Kelley said the registry issue was fought passionately on both sides but has not divided the city that already weathered a similar controversy two years ago when it adopted Ohio's first municipal ordinance giving health benefits to same-sex partners of city employees.
In Cleveland Heights
not only do we have racial diversity
we have religious diversity
we have this diversity. I'm very proud of that
Kelley said.
The registration is open to all unmarried couples who live together. It costs $50 for residents and $65 for nonresidents.
17
Archives
The Associated Press
