NBJC Board Chair: Marriage equality makes groundbreaking system ‘obsolete’
Gay District 2 Councilman [and NBJC Board Chair] Darryl Moore has placed a resolution on the council's October 1 agenda that would direct the city manager to close the registry October 11, which marks the 22nd anniversary of the system's launch. Moore is also proposing to declare October 11 Marriage Equality Day. (It's also National Coming Out Day.)
"I am happy to say that the City of Berkeley's domestic partnership registry is obsolete," Moore said in comments emailed to the Bay Area Reporter. "With the adoption of marriage equality in the state of California, we no longer need it, and on the 22nd anniversary of the registry being established, we are now able to officially close it in celebration of Marriage Equality Day."
Moore is also proposing that the October 11 celebration be marked by marriages conducted at Berkeley City Hall from 6 to 8 p.m.
In 1984, the city and the Berkeley Unified School District were the first government entities in the world to pass domestic partnership benefits for employees, marking the first time that same-sex couples were granted any rights similar to marriage. On October 11, 1991 the city initiated its own registry, "affording all couples a place to have their relationships recognized by a government entity," noted Moore's office in an email.
