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

Volume VII, Number 11

January 1 993

1 Burlington City Council
| Addresses
I Domestic Partner

i Benefits

The Burlington City Council is currently

( Cleland Selby
i
I

considering a proposed addition to the
city employees’ benefits package for un-

married domestic partners. The estimated

additional cost is $35,000 out of a total

health care cost of $2.2 million (about

2%). According to Maurice Mahoney,
chair of the Personnel Committee, this

additional cost would not be an issue if

the estimated seventeen additional cov-
ered families been married in a tradi-
tional marriage contract.

The issue of granting benefits for do-
mestic partners first surfaced in the City
of Burlington in 1990 when some city
employees went to Mayor Peter Clavelle
requesting that he and the City Council

address the issue. In his speech at that

year’s Pride Parade in June, Mayor Cla-
velle publicly announced his intention to
address the issue. It wasn’t until late
1991 that the Personnel Committee re-

ceived a formal request from the mayor

to consider the issue. According to Ma-

honey at that time the Committee had

several other issues to “wrap up first” in-
cluding the Burlington Electric de-

partment merger and the management

study of the fire department.

In March of 1992 Mahoney requested

that city resource Director Linda Gibson
survey city employees. “I wanted city
employees to be included from the be-
ginning.” A two page survey was distrib-
uted and returned to Gibson in April.
Seventeen of the 610 city employees re-
sponded at that time that they would take

Contiruted on page 3

Gay and Lesbian Health Care Benefits:
The Struggle for DOmi8;3Iii@T\i'OFVEF?‘.tC7?tT

Partner Coverage gartnfership
at The University of Vermont JAN 3 1993 of,:':,'ts at
3...}, Mjntz Universities

3"’-‘.'V.>> n'- 2 ’
. -. -

For two years now, gay and lesbian staff and   V Liuglversity °f 1°“

 

versity of Vermont (UVM) have been fighting for health care The University of
benefits for their partners. While the University provides health Iowa board of

care coverage to the spouses of married employees, comparable regent_api>r0ved
benefits have been denied to gay men and lesbians even though ‘.”‘“"“s‘°“ °f h°"1'h
UVM’s nondiscrimination policy guarantees equal rights and p";‘,‘;‘,:’,‘§f,f“;,y,
equal treatment: “The University of Vermont does not dis- 1esbian and
criminate on the basis of ...sexual orientation...in access to, or unmarried
treatment in...its programs and activities.” Moreover, an Af- h°”¢’°5€x“a1
firrnative Action/Equal Opportunity Statement interpreting Sfiglgfifitlggréz‘?
UVM’s nondiscrimination policy states that equal access applies The policy takes '
to all employment practices, including benefits. Nevertheless, effect

the UVM administration’s refusal to grant benefits stands, even Iamlaiy 1- 1993-

in the face of a unanimous finding of discrimination by the Fa- Harvard

culty Grievance Committee in a formal hearing. University

Two things stand out in this case. First, this is an issue of equal A faculty/staff

pay for equal work. Since gay men and lesbians do not get °°m’Pm°" has been
health care coverage for their partners, they earn significantly f_Ip£';‘;3°‘Ii}I3'VerSity
less in total compensation than their married co-workers. This PresidentNei1
simply is not fair. More important perhaps, by denying our part- Rudenstine to study
ners the same benefits as other employees, the University fails to the iSS11_6 Of
recognizethat we have relationships, that we can have families, d°"‘°5“° P‘?m°‘.'

\. . . . . . benefits (primarily
and that we have adult responsibilities. This policy, therefore, health carafe, the
makes us invisible and treats us in that way. University

community.
This is why the issue is so important. The move for health care g1‘“‘f3'd'5 g“i°“ 05
coverage for gay male and lesbian partners on campus echoes Torkers
events occurring throughout the country. A series of prominent has included
companies including Levi-Strauss, Lotus, and Ben & Jerry’s are domestic
now providing complete benefit packages to long-terrn partners Pafmership benefits

in its bargaining
agends since early
last spring.

of gay men and lesbians. And while the City of Burlington is
struggling to implement fair and equitable health care coverage
by including domestic partners, Cambridge, MA, Berkley, Seat-
tle, and others have already done so. Moreover, legal decisions
are starting to affirm our rights. In ruling that lesbian and gay
male employees have a legal right to sue for health insurance, a
New York State court recently found that failure to provide ben-
efits can constitute discrimination on the basis of sexual orienta- c

Continued on page 13