Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

According to the City of Pittsburgh – Department of Personnel re: the Domestic Partner Registry signed into law June 2008:

There are six partners that have applied for the registry.  Out of the six, five are same sex and 1 is opposite sex.

I assume she meant six sets of partners or six couples (12 partners, total).  Still, six?  Huh? 

We haven't registered.  We were informed by the Department of Personnel and City Council staff that we would receive information as we are one of the handful of gay domestic partners registered as City employee (not in the new registry).  We have *never* received anything.  No notice, no letter, no postcard, no email, nothing.  And, as our benefits haven't changed, there's no need to register.  I see no reason to do so.  We have the affidavit.  What else is there?

How will six couples be leverage to convince an employer to offer domestic partner benefits?  The least you could do is get your own employees registered, Luke.  That would bring the total to nearly 70 couples. 

I still think there's opportunity for this registry to be meaningful, it its grown in such a way that families in greatest need of the benefits can overcome barriers to registering.  A really well done brochure on how to register with very concrete information and specifics could be great. 

Maybe six is a reasonable amount?  I'm meeting with City Councilman Bruce Kraus later this month and I'll get his take on this.  He and Doug Shields got the legislation passed.  Again, it is up to the Mayor's team to execute things.