Michigan Governor kills domestic partner benefits

Michigan’s constitutional amendment against gay marriage and “similar unions” (Proposal 2), passed on November 2, has been used to remove benefits for same-sex partners from all contracts negotiated with state workers.

“The governor’s office and the union representatives are being overly cautious,” said Jeffery Montgomery, the executive director of the Detroit-based gay rights group, the Triangle Foundation.

“Proponents of Proposal 2 kept telling voters it was only about marriage, the amendment wasn’t about domestic partnership benefits, and people believed it,” he said. “But this decision shows that just wasn’t true. We warned them. Eliminating domestic partnership benefits from the current contract exposes those people who backed Proposal 2 for the deceitful scoundrels that they are.” (source)

Do you still think that these constitutional amendments prohibiting gay marriage was about protecting marriage? It’s much more simple than that. It’s simply about bigotry.

And yesterday in Oregon, a state constitutional ban on gay marriage took effect. The Oregon Supreme Court is awaiting final briefs from lawyers to determine whether nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples are valid. Think about that. You get married. It's one of the happiest days of your life, a defining day. Then, the state could find it to be invalid.

(Lansing, Michigan) Gov. Jennifer Granholm will remove same-sex partner benefits from contracts negotiated with state workers, said an aide, citing a voter-approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution that bans gay marriage “and similar unions.”

Michigan voters approved the amendment Nov. 2.

Granholm aide David Fink said that negotiated contracts scheduled for adoption by the state Civil Service Commission on Dec. 15 will be stripped of the same-sex domestic partner benefits.

Fink, who holds the title of state employer, said the Granholm administration decided to eliminate the benefits because of the passage of Proposal 2, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman and bans same-sex marriage and “similar unions for any purpose.”

“We’re about following the law and honoring the intent of the voters,” Fink told the Detroit Free Press.

He said the benefits could be restored before the contracts take effect on Oct. 1, 2005 if the courts have resolved the issue by then.

Republican legislators have been pressing the Democratic governor to strip the same-sex benefits from the contracts.

UAW lobbyist Alan Kilar said earlier this week that the union reached an agreement with the state in good faith and expected the state to stick with it.

“They agreed to this,” Kilar said. “It’s a contract and an agreement is an agreement.”

The UAW said if the governor goes ahead and voids the contract provision it will ask a court to determine if the benefits contravene the state Constitution.

UAW Local 6000 President Sharon Rivera said Thursday that the union will not submit that portion of the agreement to the Civil Service Commission until its legality is determined. (source)