WEST PALM BEACH (FBW)–Palm Beach County Commissioners voted unanimously Jan. 10 to create a county-wide registry of domestic partners. Unmarried couples, including homosexual partners, may sign up to receive “visitation rights and decision-making abilities,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

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Couples may pay a $50 enrollment fee to make them eligible to make decisions for each other on health care and funerals and burials, and also make “family” visits in jails and hospitals. Couples must prove partnership through documents showing common home ownership, address and credit card accounts.

Palm Beach County is the second Florida county to create a domestic partner registry, after Broward County in 1999.

Rand Hoch of Palm Beach Human Rights Council hailed the vote as “pro-family legislation,” according to the Post article.

Mat Staver, founder of Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, told Florida Baptist Witness the Palm Beach ordinance is an example of why Florida needs to pass an amendment to its constitution which defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

Staver, who drafted Florida’s existing Defense of Marriage Act in 1998, said the legislation is not enough in today’s political climate.

“We cannot leave marriage up to a judge,” Staver said. “We don’t need to be scouring the Internet or anticipate headlines ... to determine whether [marriage has been preserved]. We need to be able to go to bed at night and rest and know that marriages are preserved.

“Activitst judges or rogue legislative bodies will undermine marriages and will hurt our children,” continued Staver. “We need to preserve marriage once and for all through our constitution.”

The registry creation follows an October vote by the commissioners to give county employees in domestic relationships the right to apply for health benefits.