CLEVELAND HEIGHTS Domestic registry survives challenge

The voter-approved registry acknowledges gay and straight unmarried couples.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A judge ruled Friday that the nation's first voter-approved domestic partner registry is constitutional.
"The city of Cleveland Heights Domestic Partnership Registry is not beyond the scope of the municipalities' grant of power" from the state, Judge Robert T. Glickman of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court wrote in a five-page ruling Friday.
The decision rejected the challenge filed by the Rev. Jimmie Hicks Jr., a minister and Cleveland Heights councilman.
The judge noted that the registry conferred no specific benefit and wasn't costly for the city.
"The taxpayers of the city incur no cost, since the registering couples pay a fee to cover the entire cost of the registry," Judge Glickman wrote.
The Rev. Mr. Hicks, who had sued in February to stop the Cleveland suburb from continuing to register gay and straight unmarried couples, said he would appeal the ruling. No matter who won at the trial court level, "We knew this would only be round one," Mr. Hicks said.
The challenge and ruling is part of a coast-to-coast debate on the issue, he said. "This kind of thing is being heard all over the country in a whole lot of different ways," he said.
Eighty-five couples have registered since the city began accepting applications Jan. 26. Registrations continued during the court challenge.
Approved by vote
The initiative creating the registry passed with 55 percent of the vote last November in the community of 50,000.
The group that had backed the referendum applauded the judge's ruling.
"We're certainly not surprised. We thought Reverend Hicks' suit was meritless from the start," said David Caldwell, a spokesman for Heights Families for Equality.
"He spent much of the past two years arguing that voters should be heard on this question. But when we voted, he didn't like our decision, so he decided to ask a judge to reverse it. The judge properly decided that our votes will count after all."
Mr. Hicks had argued that Cleveland Heights shouldn't legitimize relationships of same-sex couples.
The registry's recognition is not binding on courts, governments or employers. But supporters said it would make it easier for couples to share employment benefits, inherit property or get hospital visiting rights.
The Cleveland Heights initiative was the first through a ballot issue, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Partners, under penalty of perjury, must specify that they share a common residence, have a "relationship of mutual interdependence," are at least 18 years old and don't have a married, civil-union or domestic-partnership relationship with a third person.
Registration costs $50 for residents and $65 for nonresidents.