Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn signed off on the region’s first registry in April, granting unmarried straight and gay couples the right to register for medical and educational decision-making rights previously granted only to married couples. Gulfport, St. Pete and Clearwater soon followed suit, meeting so little protest that you might have thought that, hey, this wasn’t such a big deal after all. But in a state that fought gay adoption, constitutionally banned gay marriage and brought the world Anita Bryant and Ronda Storms? Yes, it was a very big deal, each one of those registries making national news. Despite Hillsborough County’s anti-gay-pride stance, Tampa Bay is showing the world that Florida — at least this part of Florida — is an increasingly open-minded place.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2012.