POLITICAL

Miami Commissioners vote for fairness

The City of Miami Commission voted unanimously, 5 – 0, to adopt a Domestic Partnership Ordinance on June 11, 2009, becoming the third municipality in Miami-Dade County to do so. Commissioners Sanchez, Sarnoff, Regalado, Gonzalez, and Spence-Jones voted in favor of the Ordinance.

Under the new ordinance, the City of Miami will offer health benefits to city employees’ declared domestic partners and their children, in the same manner as the city offers such benefits to spouses and families of married heterosexual employees. Similar ordinances have been adopted by the City of Miami Beach and the City of North Miami. Additionally, as a result of work done by SAVE Dade and its partners, Miami-Dade County also offers similar benefits to county employees or an ordinance passed in May of last year.

Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said, “Providing employment benefits, including healthcare, to the domestic partners of our City of Miami employees is a common sense idea that has been far too long in coming. This is nothing more than treating people equally. I am proud to say our City is doing the right thing.”

One such employee is our very own SAVE Dade volunteer, Melissa Llera, a City of Miami Firefighter, who has been in a committed relationship with her partner for over 12 years. They have a child together, and now, both her partner and child will be eligible for health coverage as a result of this ordinance. Mel spoke about how she gladly puts her life on the line in service to the city as a firefighter, , and yet she and her family have struggled to find, and pay for private insurance to cover their basic health care and emergency care , when her fellow employees have such health insurance secured for them by the city.

“Mel has served the community for over 9 years, and today the community served her.” Joseph Mooradian, Community Coordinator of SAVE Dade.

Asked about the ordinance, Chairman Commissioner Joe Sanchez replied, “This allows us to recruit and retain the best and brightest workers for the City of Miami by offering benefits to domestic partners. This reaffirms our strong belief that all people are equal in Miami, the City of diversity.”

In contrast to the contested battle at the public hearing last year on a similar ordinance at the county level, a clear line of progress can be traced in the way LGBT issues are received in Miami-Dade, as with many other parts of the country. We have much work to do in Florida, with an unreceptive legislature and Amendment 2 freshly added to our Constitution. But we are making progress, one bit (need a better word…ordinance) at a time.

It was the combined efforts of Executive Director C.J. Ortuno, former Executive Director Heddy Pena, SAVE Dade’s Political Committee, and many volunteers that built the support needed for the Ordinance’s successful passage. SAVE Dade received assistance from ACLU of Florida in crafting the language for the ordinance. Equality Florida and the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus helped ensure speakers for the public hearing.

"We thank the Miami city commission’s leadership in recognizing that the families of all city employees deserve fair and equitable treatment," said SAVE Dade's Executive Director, C.J. Ortuno.

C.J. Ortuno worked closely with the Ordinance’s co-sponsors, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and Mayor Manny Diaz, to ensure the Domestic Partnership Ordinance was properly vetted and complied with all legal requirements. After legal review by the city attorney, the Ordinance passed first reading on May 14, 2009 with a 4-0 vote.