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‘HE MOUNTAINS

   

Report Points to
Stark Choices
for GLBT Voters

The Policy Institute of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force last month released a
detailed analysis of the year 2000
presidential candidates and their
stand on issues affecting gay, les-
bian, bisexual and transgender
people.

“Courting the Vote: The 2000
Presidential Candidates’
Positions on Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual and Transgender
lssues” documents the positions
of two Democrats, nine
Republicans and
Independent. It relies on public
statements, voting records, and
other means of gauging candi-
dates’ records on GLBT issues.
The report is the first in a series
of analytical pieces on electoral
politics. the NGLTF. Policy
Institute will publish between
now and the November 2000
election.

The Policy Institute is a think-
tank based in New York dedicat-
ed to research, policy analysis,
strategy development, and coali-
tion building to advance the
equality and understanding of
GLBT people. _

NGLTF Executive Director
Kerry Lobel noted that many
political reporters and editorial
writers recently have cast the
Republican Party in a favorable
light in the GOP’s handling of
GLBT issues —— a conclusion

counrmc, P2

  

photo Scot Applegate

VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 0%!‘ '

one A

Blue Cross

BY BARBARA Dozrarosg g

ermonters will soon have-*"’
access to health insurance

coverage for their domes-
tic partners regardless of the size
of their employers — but it will
cost them marginally more than it
does their married counterparts.

Effective January 1, 2000,
Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Vermont plans to offer domestic
partnership coverage to all groups
they insure, no longer restricting
the benefits to organizations with
50 or more employees.

The insurance company said it
will have to process additional
paperwork to protect itself
against fraud, and will be charg-
ing an administrative fee to
recoup that cost.

“We bear the risk of someone
affiliating solely for insurance
purposes and need to own the
administration,” said Bob Opel,
vice president and general coun-
sel to BCBS.

Elizabeth Costle, Commis-
sioner of Vermont’s Banking,
Insurance, Securities, and Health
Care Administration, said that
requiring a sworn affidavit is
standard practice among insurers
in cases of domestic partnership.
No such proof is required for het-
erosexual married. couples.

Opel admitted that he did not
have an easy explanation for the
difference in requirements.
“Marriage is a status that’s perva-
sive and legal and has a definition
and a reality that is independent
of insurance. Domestic partner-
ship really is just an insurance
status,” he said. “We’ve tried to

Burlington Church Faces Explusion —

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Members of the Christ Church congregation are regular participants
in the Vermont Pride festivties. Leaders of the group say that mem-
bers are unified in their support of GLBT rights.

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come up with criteria that elimi-
_nate the differences to give folks
that want it surrogate coverage.”
Although the difference in
requirements may seem
inequitable on the surface, State
Representative Bill Lippert of
Hinesburg points out that it has a
logical basis. “Whether you’re
required to produce a copy of it
or not, there is a sworn legal doc-
ument to back up a claim of mar-
riage,” he said. “Right now, there
is no such thing for domestic
partners. The affidavit they’re
requiring serves that purpose.”
The amount of the administra-
tive fee has not yet been deter-
mined. In the past, companies

with more than 50 employees _

have handled the verification task
themselves. BCBS is still unsure
what it will cost the company to
process the affidavits. “One of
the principles of a health plan
with limited capitalization is that
we can’t and won’t do things that
people won’t or can’t pay for,”
Opel said.

The initial plan was to add a
monthly charge of about one dol-
lar for each domestic partner
rider, but Costle said she thought
that would be too high to justify.
Opel said the current plan looks
more like a one-time set up fee
with a goal of merely recovering
additional costs. f‘[Commissioner
Costle] has made it clear that
there had better be a clear ratio-
nale behind the dollar amoun ,”
he said.

Opel said his company plans
to have the proposed changes
filed with the Banking, Insurance,
Securities, and Health Care

WITH FILES FROM
DAN PEABODY

A Vermont congregation may
soon find itself removed from its
parent church for welcoming gays
and lesbians into its ministry and

lay ministry.
Presbyterian Church USA has
ordered Christ Church,

Presbyterian to comply with a
recent amendment to the national
church’s constitution that prevents
gays and lesbians from serving as
ministers, elders or deacons.

The Burlington congregation
has repeatedly refused to do so.
Now the national body is forcing
the issue by putting CCP’s direct
governing body, the Presbytery of
Northern New England, on trial.

CCP says it disagrees with the
national church’s stance on a bib-

Ocroeerz 1999 -

Administration in early October.
BISHCA then has 60 days to
respond; if the answer is positive,
the company could start offering
the benefits immediately.

BCBS might be the first, but
soon might not be the only
Vermont company offering these
benefits. Lippert plans to ask the
legislature to “look at requiring

WWW.VTPR|DE.ORG

d to Cover Domestic Partners

by benefit of coverage for their
spouse, as opposed to a hetero-
sexual who isn’t married for
whatever reason or the gay
employee without access to the
institution of marriage.” He will
ask the legislative counsel to
draft a bill for consideration in
the 2000 session.

Domestic partnership benefits

El

and only two people.

ISIEIISIISI

relationship.

is

the household.

I2!
[21

El

Blue Cross Blue Shield Qualifications
for Domestic Partnership

Must be an arrangement between two people

Both parties must I8 or over.

Must share a residence and have done so for at least
6 months prior to application.

Must not be blood relatives such that they would
be precluded from legal marriage.

Parties much provide mutual support caring and
commit and intend to continue indefinitely in that

Must assume joint responsibility for living expenses.
but not necessarily equal monetary contribution to‘

Both parties must agree that both are responsible.

Neither party may have filed a termination of
domestic partnership in the previous 9 months.

Neither can be married to anyone.

all insurance companies to offer
domestic partner benefits to
everyone.” He called difference
in benefits.simple inequity.

“It creates unequal compensa-
tion for employees who are
working side by side,” Lippert
said. “The manied heterosexual
gets higher level of compensation

lical level, but that it’s more
importantly’ a matter of con-
science.

“We cannot ethically turn our
backs on people by prohibiting
them from leadership or any other
way,” said Rev. Michael Brown,
CCP co-pastor.

CCP, a More Light congrega-
tion since 1984, has long stood
behind its official statement that it
will “welcome and embrace on an
equal basis” members regardless
of, among other things, sexual'ori-
entation.

Because the church’s ban on
homosexual ordination was only a
guideline until recently, the
national body was powerless to
challenge the CCP stance.

But with the 1997 amendment
changing the guideline to a require-
ment came an order to conform.

became a priority for BCBS ear-
lier this year when an -indepen-
dent arbitrator ruled that the City
of Winooski, a small group
employer covered by the Berlin,
Vennont-based insurance compa-
ny, must provide benefits for the
partner of one the city’s police
officers. V

Christ Church, Presbyterian fights for GLBT Inclusion

CCP refused, calling the
amendment a “measure entirely
in contradiction to the principles
of inclusiveness in membership
and service within” the church
that “represents an unjust denial
of qualified persons’ call to
office, and is an abridgement of
the rights and duties of congre-
gations and presbyteries within
this Church.”

The regional New England
presbytery, which had given the
original orders to conform,
decided that it agreed with the
congregation’s assessment of the
situation and rescinded its order.
It’s for that recision that
Presbyterian Church USA is tak-
ing it to task.

The trial begins in Bedford,
New Hampshire, on October 8. V