Governor Gibbons came to Incline Village Friday night May 8^th to talk about the state’s budget crisis. With about 100 people in attendance, the Governor spent the first thirty minutes talking about the budget and explaining why there is a three billion dollar revenue shortfall. At that point he opened it up for questions from the audience. There was a group of about 18 LGBT folks in attendance, about 10 outside protesting silently with signs and the rainbow flag. Then there were about 8 of us inside the meeting sitting in the first few rows. When the opportunity came to ask questions several of us put our hands up. David Gordon from HRC was the first to point out to the Governor that providing a more inclusive Nevada by supporting SB283 the Domestic Partnership bill, could only improve the economic climate in Nevada by increasing tourism, and making Nevada competitive in the search for professionals in business and for the University system. When David asked what the Governor thought about that the Governor answered with “you can do that with a contract.” David countered with “contracts are not the way to go.” The governor tried to silent David when he said “are you a lawyer, because I am.” David then replied with his partner Kirk seated beside him that he and his partner had all the contracts and powers of attorneys completed and it cost around $2000.00 which is out of reach for many people. The Governor grumbled “we’ll consider it.”

The room was a mix of Republicans and Democrats and there were definitely some rude folks in attendance. When a school teacher brought up her concerns and kept after the Governor she was not only silenced by the next question but later when she tried to ask him another question one of the audience members made some disparaging remarks and she was booed by several.

I had my hand up from the beginning but it was getting close to the end, and the Governor began to wrap-up. When it ended I jumped up and was the second person at the podium. I took my turn, introduced myself, thanked him for coming and told him that AT&T had given me Domestic Partnership benefits 11 years ago and in order to provide benefits for my partner and our kids I had to register and give money to the state of California because Nevada did not have a registry. I then said “ if you want to diversify the economy so much why not consider the Domestic Partnership registry? I don’t know how much it will bring in but it’s another option to consider.” He grumbled politely and again said “we’ll consider it.”