Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/135276
INCHING FORWARD A Sarasota County resident told the County Commission during the Public Comments portion of its June 5 meeting that many older couples, for a variety of reasons, do not want to marry but want the rights a domestic partnership registry can confer. Photo by Steve Hillebrand of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Wikimedia Commons THE COUNTY COMMISSION HAS DIRECTED THE COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO PREPARE DRAFTS OF A DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP REGISTRY SO IT CAN NARROW DOWN THE DETAILS BEFORE HOLDING A PUBLIC HEARING By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor It took the better part of an hour of discussion, but the Sarasota County Commission unanimously voted on June 5 to direct the County Attorney's Office to draft two versions of a domestic partnership registry for the unincorporated areas of the county. The commissioners agreed they will discuss those drafts and settle on what they want the final document to include before they advertise it for a public hearing. Commissioner Christine Robinson specified in her motion that the drafts offer options on reciprocity — one draft would leave out that provision altogether while the second would make it clear that people coming into the county who have registered as domestic This is a device to give partners in a domestic relationship some basic rights so partners in another juthat their relationship can function the way risdiction would have only the rights accordthat any relationship ought to function. ed to Sarasota County Ken Shelin Resident domestic partnership City of Sarasota registrants.