Action Alert: Urge Mayor to certify DPs from other jurisdictions
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Action Alert: Urge Mayor to certify DPs from other jurisdictions


From:Richard J. Rosendall
Sent:Monday, February 16, 2009 9:55 PM
To:GLAA Members
Subject:Urge Mayor to certify partnerships from other jurisdictions


Friends,

With passage of the Omnibus Domestic Partnership Equality Amendment Act of 2008 (which became law on Sep. 12, 2008), the D.C. Council has authorized the recognition of civil unions, domestic partnerships, and similar relationships from other states and countries. Mayor Fenty has not done his part to certify which relationships should qualify. Repeated requests to get him to act have been ignored. We are now forced to draw public attention to the effort in order to get the Mayor to act.

Please send an email to Mayor Adrian Fenty at mayor@dc.gov, and encourage your friends to do the same. A sample message is below.

Feel free to copy GLAA at equal@glaa.org on your email, as well as Chris Dyer, Director of the Office of GLBT Affairs at Christopher.Dyer@dc.gov, plus your D.C. Council members (including the four at-large members and Chairman Gray) whose contact information is online at: http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/contactuscouncil .

Thanks for your help.

Rick Rosendall
Vice President for Political Affairs
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance



Dear Mayor Fenty:

I urge you to carry out the provision of the Omnibus Domestic Partnership Equality Amendment Act of 2008 (Law 17-231) allowing the District to extend recognition to the Civil Unions, Domestic Partnerships, and similar relationships under various names in states and countries which have passed laws similar to the District.

The new section of D.C. Code §32-702(i) reads, “Relationships established in accordance with the laws of other jurisdictions that are substantially similar to domestic partnerships established by this chapter, as certified by the Mayor, shall be recognized as domestic partnerships in the District.”

Please certify the civil unions from Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey; the domestic partnerships of California and Oregon; and same-sex marriages from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California; as well as the numerous countries with similar laws as domestic partnerships in the District.

Because Washington is a destination city for people from across the country and the world, it is all the more vital that you certify these relationships so that domestic partners (whatever they are legally termed) who come to the District from elsewhere are able to enjoy the same legal protections as District residents who have registered as Domestic Partners.

Mr. Mayor, you gave the following written response during the 2006 mayoral campaign to a question from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance http://www.glaa.org/archive/2006/mqfenty.shtml:

“We have in the District of Columbia one of the highest percentages of gay families to our total population that any other city in the nation. We have over 5% of couples households in the District that identify as gay or lesbian.... I am also supportive of recognizing the rights and responsibilities given to these relationships in other states when those couples move to the District of Columbia. This will make DC a more attractive place to move to and one of our goals is to increase our population and our tax base.”

It is hard to understand why several months have passed with no sign of action by your office to fulfill your duties under the law and your campaign promise. Please do not keep the affected families in legal limbo any longer. Please proceed quickly to certify these relationships.

Thank you for your attention to this.


Sincerely,


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