July 7, 2011 – The Village of Miami Shores voted unanimously, 5-0, to adopt a Domestic Partnership Policy, becoming the sixth municipality in Miami-Dade County to do so. Miami Shores now joins Miami, Miami Beach, North Miami, South Miami, Palmetto Bay and Miami-Dade County.

The new policy will allow for all unmarried couples employed by the Village to offer their partner health insurance benefits.  The bill was supported by newly elected and openly gay councilman Jesse Walters, and was placed on the Village agenda because of the efforts of City Manager Tom Benton.

Walters, who was supported by the SAVE Dade Action PAC, said that he was very proud of Miami Shores on Tuesday night.  “An overflowed crowd showed up at the council meeting to support passage of Domestic Partner benefits for our village employees, and our council approved it unanimously.  Three of the five "yes" votes came from Republicans.  Our two parties may have honest disagreements on other matters, but equality for gay people need not be one of them.” 

Executive Director CJ Ortuno assisted the effort by lobbying four of the five Councilmen. “More and more cities are realizing the importance of offering equal benefits to their employees in order to retain and recruit the best and the brightest in today’s competitive workforce and Miami Shores is no different,” said Ortuno.

###