Eugene, Ore., approves DP registry

The city council of Eugene, Ore., has approved creation of a domestic-partnership registry for same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples. Eugene's partnership registry will be Oregon's third, following an Ashland registry and a joint registry in Portland and Multnomah County. The registry is an official but largely symbolic recognition of committed relationships that will be open to any couple, regardless of where they live, as long as each partner is 18 or older and the couples aren't blood relatives--the same requirements for those wishing to marry in the state. Meanwhile, proposed protections for transgendered people failed to gain approval after Eugene mayor Jim Torrey threatened to veto the entire package of human rights code revisions if it included a guarantee of "reasonable accommodations" for transgendered people in buildings open to the public. Torrey cited privacy and cost issues that might arise if transsexuals were given their own facilities or allowed access to their choice of gender-specific rest rooms, dressing rooms, and showers.