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VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS, GAY MEN, AND BISEXUALS

 

Volume IX, Number 6 September 1994
A Progressive & Responsive Step Forward: Whoomp, There It Is!
Vermont becomes first state to extend benefits senator Jeffords

Kip Roberson

MONTPELIER -- “Effective August 1,
1994, medical and dental benefits coverage
for dependents of state employees shall be
extended to domestic partners and the
children of domestic partners...” These
words begin the letter from the Vermont
Department of Personnel that makes
Vermont the first state in the nation to
extend health care benefits to the domestic
partners of its employees.

“Under an agreement between the state
employees’ labor union and the state, both
unmarried heterosexual and homosexual
partners are eligible for health and dental
benefits now offered to spouses”, said
Personnel Commissioner Thomas Torti.
While this new policy is a definite step
toward an all—encompassing fairness, a
fairness that affords everyone equal
protection under the law, it was not
formulated through an easy process. The
agreement was reached as the result of a
grievance filed by a state employee after the
Department of Personnel ruled last year
that same—sex partners would not be eligible
for coverage. Had the agreement not been
reached, a lawsuit would likely have ensued
because the State Labor Relations Act
includes a clause prohibiting
discrimination based on sexual orientation.

While Governor Howard Dean and his
administration were not opposed to
providing coverage for the partners and
children of gay and lesbian employees,
they also wanted to ensure that unmarried
heterosexuals be given coverage.
Conversely, some members of the state
employees’ union have been much less
supportive, to the extent that at least one
member has removed his/her name from
the union rolls. Union Director Thomas
Whitney has received some angry letters as

a result of the change but said that “positive
calls outweigh negative ones”.

According to statistics compiled by the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
Vermont joins fifty—seven private sector
companies, seventeen non—profit
organizations, twenty—seven educational
institutions, three labor organizations, and
thirty—five municipalities in providing
domestic partner benefits. Of these
numbers, at least five are located in
Vermont. They include Ben & Jerry’s,
Gardener’s Supply, the City of Burlington,
Middlebury College, and UVM. The list
of criteria to meet for enrollment is short, at
only six requirements. To qualify, an
employee and his or her partner must sign
an affidavit that says they are eighteen years
of age or older and unmarried and that they
are “each other’s sole domestic partner
having been in an exclusive and enduring
domestic relationship, while sharing a
residence, for not less than six consecutive
months prior to submission of (an)
enrollment application.” Although
domestic parmer benefits are offered to
employees as an attempt to provide basic
civil rights for all, the United States
government has not kept up with this trend.
“If a domestic partner, or his/her child(ren),

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Vermont Plays the Gay Games:
Page 12-13

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Paul Olsen

BURLINGTON/WASHINGTON, D.C.
-- On June 23, 1994, Republican Senator
James Jeffords became an original
co-sponsor of the Employment
Non—Discrirnination Act of 1994
(ENDA). When passed, ENDA would
prohibit employment discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation
nationwide. In light of the upcoming
election for the U.S. Senate, Jeffords'
co—sponsorship creates one issue that
does not significantly separate him from
either of his potential Democratic
opponents.

Cynics might question the timing of
Jeffords' signing onto this bill. While
federal bills prohibiting discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation have
been introduced since as early as 1975
(Jeffords has served since 1974),
Vermont's self—proclaimed "maverick"
in Washington has resisted sponsorship
until now. His past failure to sponsor
national gay rights legislation, in part,
explains his National Gay & Lesbian
Task Force grade of 78% in the 103rd
Congress. Others might argue that the
timing of Jeffords' co—sponsorship might
actually hurt him especially among
Vermont's Religious Right who include
in their agenda the denial of civil rights
to lesbian and gay Americans.

Jeffords will face either Doug Costle or
Jan Backus, who are both seeking the
Democratic nomination in the
September 13 primary. Attorney Doug
Costle most recently served as Dean of
the Vermont Law School. Jan Backus

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