Senate OKs registry for partners

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ANNAPOLIS -- The Senate yesterday approved legislation supported by homosexual rights activists that would create a registry giving unmarried couples the right to make medical decisions for each other.

The bill cleared the Senate on a 31-16 roll call, seven votes more than the number required for passage. It now goes to the House of Delegates, which passed similar legislation last year but which was waiting for Senate action before taking up this year's bill.

While the bill was promoted by homosexual rights groups, it would apply to any unmarried couple that wants to register with the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Registration would guarantee partners the right to make medical decisions for each other, visit their partner's hospital room, share rooms in nursing homes, share ambulance rides and make decisions about whether to bury or cremate after death.

Most opponents who spoke during brief but emotional debate said they opposed the bill because it is not needed. Sen. Alex X. Mooney, Frederick County Republican, called the bill "a step toward homosexual 'marriage'" and said its purpose is "promoting the radical homosexual agenda."

Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, Prince George's Democrat, said the bill is not about same-sex "marriage" but is needed to help deal with "a homophobic problem."

"What the bill does is give fair rights in a reasoned way," he said, saying a vote in favor of it "is a vote for civil rights and decency."

Sen. Joan Carter Conway, Baltimore Democrat and the bill's sponsor, said her bill applies to heterosexual and homosexual couples, including elderly people whose spouses have died and who can't afford to get married because they would lose Social Security and pension payments.

New Jersey, Maine and California also have domestic partner registries, but those states offer a broader range of rights to registry members, said homosexual rights lobbyist Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland.

Maryland's bill is limited to offering medical- and hospital-related rights.