Jim Hooper, a former National Board Member of the American Civil Liberties Union, hailed what he sees as a "gay friendly" court decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeals. Hooper is a board member of the Brevard County ACLU where two unlikely antagonists, both women and former lovers, resided together before their split.

Hooper says: "This decision legitimizes some contractual arrangements between gay and lesbian partners. It gives them the same contract rights as heterosexual people have."

Hooper was referring to a contractual agreement case decided last week against Nancy Layton, which was won by her lover of four years and requires her to make good on a legal contract that promises she will support Emma Posik for life, should they part, with $2,500 per month. Layton is a physician who works in a large Florida medical facility.

Tony Boylan, politics and government commentator for Florida Today (Gannett), says that Layton and Posik, in spite of their significant differences, "are responsible for the latest chapter in progress made by this rising segment of the population. They scored a victory for gay couples when the 5th Court of Appeal upheld a nuptial agreement between the two."

Prior to entering into living arrangements with Layton, Posik had worked as a nurse for 17 years in nearby Volusia County. When she moved into the Brevard County doctor's residence she sought to assure herself that her relinquishment of her previous job's security would not be in vain.

According to court testimony, Layton claimed that Posik had promised her she'd never enforce the women's' legal pact. It was requested, she'd said, only as a demonstration that Posik was indeed loved.

The Court's decision opens new doors to the making of agreements giving protections to partners that are not unlike those afforded in marriage.

Political columnist Boylan's advice to others in such circumstances would be the same, he writes, as that given by former president Reagan to Gorbachev: Trust, but verify. Some gay men and lesbians in Brevard County reacted with dismay to the verdict.

"That's why I never wanted to get married," said one resident, "I believe in keeping couples' finances separate, and anything else is a dependency scene that often gets pretty ugly. If heterosexuals want to go that route, fine, that's their cross to bear, but I think its screws up romance by dragging finances into the picture."