This afternoon the city of Cincinnati, OH today became the last major city in Ohio to pass a decade long awaited domestic partner registry.

Introduced by Councilman Chris Seelbach and passed by a super-majority of City Council members with Councilman Charles Winburn being the only “no” vote  the registry will help local businesses, who want to offer their employees equal benefits, a centralized tool to determine eligibility,”

“In simple terms, the registry will help local businesses, who want to offer their employees equal benefits,  Seelbach said in a news release adding that many of Cincinnati’s largest companies currently offer domestic partner benefits to employees, but smaller companies do not have the human resources staffing available to create guidelines and financially verify relationships.

Cincinnati’s new domestic partnership law comes 10 years after Cincinnati voters repealed article 12, a charter amendment that banned any law protecting the cities LGBT citizens.  Article 12’s push into law was originally lead by Phil Buress and his group the Citizens for Community Values who also helped write Ohio’s Defense of Marriage Act which is one of the most anti-gay in the country.  The CCV is affiliated with the nationally known and recognized anti-gay hate group the American Family Association.

Councilman Charles Winburn, today’s lone dissenting vote against the domestic partner registry is a former paid consultant of the CCV and has been pushing their hateful anti-gay agenda on the citizens of Cincinnati for years.

Charles Winburn did not respond to Back2Stonewall.com’s request for a statement.

Congratulations Cincinnati and welcome to the 21st. Century!  (And choke on it Winburn!)