City Council members in the southern Arizona town of Bisbee have passed an ordinance that recognizes civil unions for same-sex couples, giving the couples the same rights as married couples.
The Sierra Vista Herald reports Tuesday night’s 5-2 vote in the former mining community-turned-artists’ followed an emotional three-hour hearing attended by more than 100 people.
The vote makes Bisbee the first Arizona city to legalize civil unions, although the state’s attorney general has promised to go to court to block the ordinance.
City Attorney John MacKinnon says the ordinance’s impact would only apply to things within the city’s control. He says those would include city personnel policies and the city cemetery.
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