Source: Lower Hudson Journal News, AP via Newsday
CARMEL, N.Y. -- Unmarried residents of New York's suburban Putnam County could soon have an opportunity to enroll in a domestic partner registry.

A committee of county's legislature has voted to advance the proposal.

The registry would allow unmarried couples -- gay or heterosexual -- to document their commitment in order to facilitate hospital visits, health benefits and other rights that come with marriage.

Patricia McElroy of Patterson has been trying to get the Putnam Legislature to take up the issue since February. She wrote to county officials and legislators, but ran into resistance at first from officials who said it would be beyond the power of the county government.

McElroy explained to Lower Hudson Journal News that she began pressing for the registry as a way of honoring her partner of 13 years who died from leukemia several months ago.

It was during her partner's illness that McElroy learned Putnam has no registry. Rockland County established one in early 2006. Westchester County has had one since November 2002.

McElroy and her partner got health coverage as a couple through their employer, the Byram Hills Central School District in Armonk. But first they had to prove they were domestic partners by showing documents such as a mortgage, electric bills and joint checking and savings accounts.

"When filling out the paperwork for health benefits, the school district asked if we had proof of domestic partnership," she told the Journal News. "Putnam doesn't have a registry like Westchester." McElroy has lived in Putnam since 1983.

Says Legislator Sam Oliverio of Putnam Valley: "If you truly love someone, and are in a loving relationship, that relationship should be recognized."

A Putnam registry would be modeled after the one used in nearby Westchester County. There, partners get visitation rights in jails and prisons, and at health-care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes. The principal power of Westchester's registry is to provide unmarried couples with a certificate allowing them to claim domestic partner benefits with companies that offer them. Employers are not required to recognize the partnerships or to offer the benefits.

To qualify to register in Westchester, couples must be residents of the county, or at least one partner must work for the county. Both partners must be 18 or older. Neither partner can be married. Partners cannot be related by blood. They must live together and be financially interdependent.

Full article: Putnam ponders domestic partner registry | Lower Hudson Journal News
Suburban NY committee approves domestic partner registry | Newsday