Tuesday Watercooler: Gays win in California, lose in Arizona
[1]
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is on the war path. In a not-so-subtle way, she is marginalizing and discriminating against nearly every minority group in her state.
To start the week off, Brewer cut domestic partner benefits for state employees [2] and their dependents – on the pretense of saving a few bucks. She saves $3 million by cutting the benefits of roughly 800 affected employees. How much does she spend on benefits for everyone else? About $625 million. Looking at it that way, $3 million is merely a drop in the budgetary bucket.
The Arizona Daily Star reported: “Gov. Jan Brewer said Wednesday that she believes ‘God has placed me in this powerful position as Arizona’s governor’ to help the state weather its troubles.”
Somebody please remind Brewer and her ilk of the phrase “separation of church and state.” It’s in the Constitution.
The move, of course, follows on the footsteps of the legislation she signed on Friday that makes racial profiling legal. If someone is suspected of being illegally in the United States – and a description of that is quite fuzzy – a police officer is legally required to ask for paperwork proving citizenship. The law is not only detestable, it is likely illegal [3].
San Francisco officials have called for a boycott [4] of Arizona. And flights from Mexico to Phoenix are being canceled by Aeromexico airlines. But that’s just the beginning. If Brewer wants to create her own Aryan-zona, her state will suffer the economic consequences. It’s just a matter of time.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news [5], world news [6], and news about the economy [7]
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[8]
Speaking of unnecessary laws, California finally addressed a decades-old piece of legislation [9] that compared homosexuality to child molestation – both were in need of a “cure.”
Unlike Arizona, California is moving in the right direction as the House of Representatives adopted a measure that directs the Department of Mental Health to remove statements that dictate the agency research “causes and cures of homosexuality.” The measure is now headed to the Senate.
I can almost hear the California Legislature saying, “Cures, we don’t need no stinkin’ cures.”
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[10]
In more good news from California, a leader in the state’s nurses’ union, Mary Kay Henry [11], was picked to head the Service Employees International Union. Henry, an out lesbian, will represent more than 2 million workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
She becomes both the first woman and the first person in the LGBT community to head the union.
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[12]
And, finally, something that has nothing to do with politics or immigration or any anti-gay sentiments, I found this little nugget of, well, sparkle power: Canned unicorn meat [13].
ThinkGeek, for the low, low price of $9.99, is offering Spam-inspired containers of precious unicorn meat, which is noted as “an excellent source of sparkle.”
In a moving tale of selflessness, we learn about the Sisters at Radiant Farms, who “have dedicated their lives to nursing these elegant creatures through their final days.”
Then they chop the unicorns up and process them for a profit. Mmm, mmm good.
[1] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-jan-brewer-top.jpg
[2] http://www.towleroad.com/2009/09/arizona-governor-takes-away-state-domestic-partner-benefits-says-god-has-placed-me-in-this-powerful-.html
[3] http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_e282eddf-7b50-514f-9716-3829a65d9df5.html
[4] http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14961851?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1
[5] http://www.msnbc.msn.com
[6] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507
[7] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072
[8] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-cure-medicine-top.jpg
[9] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=62158
[10] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-mary-kay-henry-top.jpg
[11] http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=&sc3=&id=105018
[12] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-unicorn-meat-top.jpg
[13] http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/unicorn-meat.shtml
Lambda Legal files suit to prevent Ariz. from stripping domestic partner benefits
From Lambda Legal:
(Tuscon, Ariz.) Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson to block a move to strip domestic partner benefits from gay and lesbian state employees. Arizona lawmakers included a provision stripping domestic partner health benefits from state employees as part of a last-minute …
Washington state to vote on gay benefits
Voters choose to retain domestic partner benefits or to reverse law passed by state legislature.
Wisconsin budget extends rights to gay couples
With the budget signed Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin has become the first state with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to put in place domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.
Wisconsin also is the first Midwestern state to legislatively put in place legal protections for same-sex couples, according to advocates.
But supporters of the ban still contend the creation of domestic partner benefits violates the constitutional amendment on marriage because it creates a legal status that approximates marriage — and they could file a legal challenge soon.
Starting Aug. 3, couples will be able to apply for a declaration of domestic partnership in their home counties. Partnerships would be dissolved through a termination process at the county clerk’s office.
Some counties and municipalities already
*ecognize domestic partnerships, including Dane County and the city of Milwaukee. But Maria Cadenas, executive director of the Cream City Foundation, an advocacy group on gay and transgender issues, said that for her and her partner, registering in Milwaukee only affected their gym membership.
See Wisconsin budget extends rights to gay couples
Duluth News Tribune
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/wisconsin-bud…
Wisconsin Trial Court Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Seeking Domestic Partner Benefits For Lesbian and Gay State Employees
The Court’s opinion states: “The plaintiffs have offered a strong showing that the employment benefits in issue have been provided on a discriminatory basis. The defendants’ explanations offered for the continuing discrimination against these plaintiffs are unpersuasive and inadequate.”
“Losing doesn’t get any better than this,” said Larry Dupuis, Litigation Director of the ACLU. “We knew we had an uphill battle in the trial court because of the earlier case. But the court agreed with us that discrimination based on sexual orientation should be subject to strict judicial review and that it is unconstitutional for the state to deny equal benefits.”
The Court also found that providing the benefits would not be barred by the anti-gay marriage amendment that passed in 2006. After the amendment passed, the state had argued that the amendment barred the state from providing the benefits.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit in April 2005 on behalf of six lesbian state employees and their partners. The lawsuit charges that it is a violation of the state’s equal protection guarantees to deny lesbian and gay state employees access to the same health insurance and family leave protections that it provides to straight employees who are able to cover their spouses. The lawsuit was stalled for years because a number of Wisconsin municipalities tried to inject themselves into the lawsuit. The issue ultimately went up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which ruled that they were not entitled to become a party to the litigation.
“While we are heartened by the court’s decision, we urge the legislature to pass the domestic partner bill so there will be no need to appeal,” added Chris Ahmuty, Executive Director of the ACLU of Wisconsin. “Our clients are forced to pay expensive prices for inferior health coverage and sometimes even to forego necessary care. They suffer every day this issue goes unresolved.”
Wisconsin Department of Corrections employee Jayne Dunnum and her partner, Robin Timm, pay nearly $450 a month for private insurance for Timm who works on the couple’s organic farm and food store in Platteville. “We don’t care if it happens through the courts or the legislature. We just really need the health insurance coverage,” said Dunnum. “It’s a matter of basic fairness. I work just as hard has my straight colleagues and shouldn’t be denied the equal employment benefits.”
The case is Dunnum v. Department of Employee Trust Funds. The couples are represented by John Knight and Rose Saxe of the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, Larry Dupuis of the ACLU of Wisconsin, and cooperating attorneys Linda Roberson and Christopher Krimmer of the Madison law firm Balisle & Roberson.
Biographical information for all of the couples, today’s decision, the complaint, and additional information are available at http://www.aclu.org/getequal/caseprofiles.htm.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/wisconsin-tri…
“It’s not easy being gay,” says director of the Ohio Department of Insurance
“It’s not easy being gay,” said Mary Jo Hudson, director of the Ohio Department of Insurance. She wasn’t referring to political opposition and other obstacles, but the plight of same-sex couples who are trying to get and keep health insurance.
“You’ve got to go through a lot of hoops,” said Ms. Hudson, who is openly gay and has lived with her partner for eight years.
Same-sex couples have been making headlines; Maine followed the lead of Iowa and Vermont this week in legalizing same-sex marriage, and several other state legislatures are now considering it. But Ms. Hudson says that fairer and more comprehensive health care coverage for partners — whether they are legally married or not — is not necessarily part of the package.
“For the vast majority of gay couples,” she said, “getting health insurance for a domestic partner is still a challenge.”
Currently about one-third of companies with more than 500 employees offer domestic partner benefits. That’s up from about 12 percent in 2000, according to a study from Mercer, an employee benefits consulting firm. But the percentage drops off sharply when smaller employers are counted, Ms. Hudson said.
And there is no provision for domestic partner benefits for federal employees, although there are some legislative efforts to change that. Some states and municipalities offer their employees domestic partner coverage, depending on the state laws.
Even if the relationship is formalized with the state in a marriage or union, that does not always obligate the employer to cover a same-sex spouse. For one thing, self-insured employers are not regulated by the states. See Patient Money For Gay Couples, Obstacles to Health Insurance
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/its-not-easy-…
N.M. settles gay partner suit
(Santa Fe, New Mexico) The New Mexico government has agreed to offer health and other benefits to the domestic partners of retired state government workers.
The agreement ends a lawsuit filed in 2007 by three lesbians whose domestic partner benefits ended when they retired from state jobs.
In 2003, Bill Richardson issued …
House bill offers DP benefits for federal workers
Out U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., this month is expected to introduce the Domestic Partner Benefits & Obligations Act, which would offer domestic-partner benefits to the same-sex partners of federal workers. The measure will be co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and in the Senate by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, both of whom backed a similar bill in the previous session, said Baldwin spokeswoman Jerilyn Goodman. Washington Blade* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/house-bill-of…
Tahoe board strips partner benefits
The Incline Village General Improvement District board has decided to rescind health care insurance benefits to domestic partners of district employees.
The action, taken on a 3-2 vote Wednesday, reverses a similar board vote last August in favor of offering domestic partner benefits.
Board Chairman Ted Fuller says he voted to rescind the benefits because of the need to cut costs and the potential for abuse.
Board member John Bohn says he again voted against the benefits because he doesn’t think the north Lake Tahoe community supports them.
But board member Bea Epstein, who voted for the benefits both times, says she thinks there was insufficient discussion of the issue and she wants the board to revisit it at a future meeting. MORE Tahoe board strips partner benefits
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/tahoe-board-s…
ENDA, end of military ban, DP benefits top Polis’ agenda
The Employment Nondiscrimination Act, lifting the military gay ban and providing domestic-partner benefits to federal employees are the chief first-term goals cited by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo. “We should absolutely be holding our elected officials, including President Obama, to their commitments to support those three pieces of legislation — and our elected members of the House and Senate to deliver on those,” he said. Dallas Voice
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/enda-end-of-m…
