S'about Time Miami

Having lived in Miami for several years, and been witness to all it excesses and madness, where politics runs the gamut from being elected to being arrested then re-elected, strip clubs and gay bars, haute cuisine ti Cuban sandwiches, haute couture and dollar stores, Cuban festivals along Calle Ocho to decadent South Beach galas, I can safely say it is one of the gayest cities in America.

And yet it is only now coming out of the closet.

I mean, you don't get much gayer than South Beach, and yet Miami had it's first Pride Celebration last year. Palm Beach has been having PrideFests for years; Ft Lauderdale and Key West, too. But not in Miami. So I was pleasantly surprised that the City of Miami Commission voted unanimously to adopt a Domestic Partnership Ordinance; this makes it the third municipality in Miami-Dade County to do so.

The new Ordinance will allow the City of Miami to offer health benefits to the declared domestic partners and their children of city employees in the same manner as the city offers such benefits to spouses of married heterosexual employees; a similar ordinance was adopted by the City of Miami Beach and the City of North Miami, and Miami-Dade County offers similar benefits to its employees.

Commissioner Marc Sarnoff: “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.”

Chairman Commissioner Joe Sanchez: “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.”

Congratulations, Miami, you're coming along. One day it'll be Anita, who?