City Council

 

A registry may make it easier for non-marital families to gain important benefits and protections from institutions and businesses. Organizations from employers to service providers often provide benefits or other privileges for “families.” Consider the family membership to a local attraction/club or health and wellness benefits provided by an employer. Traditionally, these benefits are available when proof is provided, whether it is a marriage license, joint bank statement, lease, or other document that appears “official.” Committed families that are not in a married status are often excluded from these benefits—often because the provider does not have an efficient way to validate status.  A domestic partner registry can support businesses and other organizations that want to share these benefits and privileges to qualifying, but non-married partners.

 

The registry is seen as a way for domestic partners to record their relationships and for businesses and organizations to have a neutrally administered means of qualifying person for benefits or discounts that they may choose to offer. This may relieve the administrative burden of reviewing and requesting documents of proof from an organization. Often times, these organizations are not equipped with the administrative support to complete these reviews. Consider a smaller business that wants to offer domestic partner benefits, but lacks the staffing to process and review the information. The City of Cincinnati would collect the sufficient evidence of the relationship and provide a certificate. The individual can then present that certificate rather than other potentially invasive and cumbersome documents. It would save time for the smaller business or organization. It is an efficiency tool for our community partners and may provide convenience in particular circumstances:

 

• It removes the administrative burden to define and verify the existence of intimate and family relationships in sensitive situations:
  • Hospital and jail visitation
  • Employers' health insurance benefits
  • Authorization to pick up children from school
• It makes it easier for institutions and businesses to give non-marital families important benefits
• It makes it easier to create family-friendly policies for all customers and patrons
• It encourages all families to feel welcome and valued in Cincinnati
• It gives widowed seniors certain benefits without remarrying, which could put them at risk of losing benefits from Social Security or a deceased spouse’s pension
• It helps local employers attract a talented, diverse workforce and forge new business relationships 

 

The City’s creation of a registry removes that burden and perhaps opens up new opportunities. However, no company is required to recognize the domestic partner registry as qualification for whatever discounts they may choose to offer. No company is required to provide discounts or benefits. The goal is to simply eliminate the red-tape that is often involved in providing documentation related to proving that a domestic partnership exists. The registry is entirely optional for all parties.