Cleveland city leaders offered a warm
welcome to gay and lesbian couples arriving at City Hall to take
advantage of a new domestic partner registry taking effect Thursday.
Gay advocates celebrated with a rally
on the steps of City Hall. Six council members attended the rally,
including Council Members Jay Westbrook, Joe Cimperman and Joe
Santiago.
Registering with the city is mostly a
symbolic act. Registered couples receive no guaranteed benefits or
protections; any benefits gained would be strictly voluntary.
The registry's shortcomings, however,
appeared to be lost on the steady stream of couples lining up for it.
Sixty-four couples, mostly gay or lesbian, had paid the $55
registration fee by 2PM, openly gay Councilman Santiago told On
Top Magazine.
Opposition
to the registry appears to have diminished since ministers called for
its repeal in January. A group of mostly black ministers lead by
Rev. C. Jay Matthews failed in an effort to stop the registry from
taking effect. And while the group has vowed to place a referendum
on the November ballot, it appears they missed a March deadline.
Inside
City Hall, Matthews led a revival-like prayer service, but an
anticipated anti-gay demonstration failed to materialize.
“Today
Cleveland has joined with a movement,” said rally organizer Sue
Doerfer, executive director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and
Transgender Community Center of Cleveland. “Equality is spreading
much more quickly than the swine flu.”
In a
state that has banned marriage and civil unions for gay couples, the
moment is historic; only two other cities in Ohio – Cleveland
Heights and Toledo – offer such registries.