Eagan Council Approves Domestic Partner Registry

For the vast majority of Eagan residents, Mayor Mike Maguire said Tuesday night, a domestic partner registry ordinance will make no difference.

But for the few who are in committed, unmarried relationships, the mayor said, the registry could be a helpful service.

Maguire's remarks came just before the Eagan City Council voted 4-0 to approve a proposed domestic partnership registry at its regular meeting Tuesday. Councilor Cyndee Fields was absent from the meeting.

Eagan is the 17th city in Minnesota to pass a domestic partner registry, which will allow unmarried couples—both heterosexual and homosexual—to document their relationship with the city.

Under the city's new ordinance, committed, unmarried couples who are at least 18 years of age can fill out a domestic-partner registration application and turn it into the city clerk. In return for completing the application and paying a $25 fee, couples receive a registration certificate from the city.

The voluntary registry means little for a couple's legal standing, City Administrator Tom Hedges said.  

However, passage of the ordinance will help unmarried couples access health insurance from employers, among other benefits, according to Phil Duran, the legal director for OutFront Minnesota—an LGBT-friendly advocacy group. Duran was one of two members of the public to comment on the subject at the meeting.

City officials began discussing the proposed domestic partner registry ordinance in July, after an Eagan resident asked the council to consider the ordinance during one of the council's listening sessions, Hedges said.

At the Dec. 20 listening session, the council directed city staff to put together the proposed domestic partner registry ordinance. Eagan city officials chose to model the proposed domestic partner registry after similar ordinances approved in other communities, Hedges added.

Eagan's approval of the registry comes less than a year before Minnesota residents will vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.

"There are any number of different kinds of relationships that people engage in, and unfortunately, the only one that's legally recognized is marriage," Maguire said during the meeting. "There are people who engage in relationships that aren't married and who are doubly or just as committed to each other, if not more so, in spite of it, and I think it's just fine for a community to be wecloming and recognize it."