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FL: Kissimmee to Discuss Domestic Partner Coverage for City Employees

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Kissimmee commissioners have a difficult road ahead when they consider whether to allow city employees to buy health insurance for their domestic partners, whether those partners are the same or opposite sex. The policy, if approved, would allow employees with domestic partners the same benefits their married counterparts already receive.

Commissioner Cheryl Grieb said the proposal is a health care and an equal rights issue, not one on whether gay people living together is right or wrong. We believe Grieb has the best interests of city employees at heart in this matter.

If such benefits were extended to employees’ domestic partners, there likely would be some added administrative costs – though minimal, we believe – as the city would have more paperwork to process. Plus, if the financial payout for claims were to rise dramatically due to the poor health of additional health plan members, costs for premiums could go up significantly for all involved. However, such a scenario is impossible to predict.

Full Story from Around Osceola
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in debate, domestic partner benefits, fl, florida, kissimmee | No Responses »

Guam: Civil Union Bill Debate Delayed As Catholic Church Prepares Attack

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The Catholic Church in Guam has submitted a petition opposing plans to legalise same-sex civil unions in the US territory. The controversial Bill 185 on civil unions was due to be discussed this week, but has been delayed again until next month, giving the church more time to garner support for their argument that legalising gay unions will promote homosexuality.

Presenter: Corinne Podger
Speakers: Benjamin Cruz, Guam Senator; Deacon Jeff Barcinas, Spokesman for Guam’s Catholic Archbishop

PODGER: Bill 185 aims to give people in committed same-sex relationships the right to enter into civil unions, thereby enjoying the same responsibilities, rights benefits and protections as marriage. Guam Senator Benjamin Cruz, who tabled the proposed legislation late last year, says it’s unfair to deny homosexual citizens in long-term relationships the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

CRUZ: It is a civil rights issue. You’re denying individuals the right to unions that they should be able to get into. But more importantly you’re denying them the equal protection of the law. A professor at the university who, like 100 other professors at the university, paid his bi-weekly dues for retirement; when he retires his significant other will not be able to receive the retirement survivor benefits after he dies. But one of his other fellow professors could marry some 18-year-old girl that he meets online from some foreign country and, after one year, die and she would for the rest of her life be able to receive the benefits.

Full Story from Radio Australia
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in catholic church, civil unions bill, debate, delay, guam, objections | No Responses »

IA: Senate Leader Says No Gay Marriage Repeal Vote in 2010

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

During a taping of the IPTV “Iowa Press” show today, Republican leaders in the two Iowa chambers said they’d push ways to overturn same-sex marriage, which became legal in April following an Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, said he’d attempt to air ways to get a state constitutional referendum on marriage before Iowans.

At roughly the same time McKinley was recording the show, here in Sioux City Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, was previewing key issues for 2010. After he addressed fiscal matters for the entire length of his remarks, I asked if he would allow a Senate floor debate on marriage. Nope, he quickly answered.

Why? “I’m not about to put discrimination into the state constitution,” Gronstal said.

So you agree with the court ruling? “Yes.”

Full Story from the Sioux City Journal: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/app/blogs/politically_speaking/?p=1884

Click here for gay marriage resources in Iowa.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in debate, Gay Marriage, iowa, Mike Gronstal, repeal, senate | No Responses »

Recap of Gay Marriage Debate in Portland, Maine

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Maine’s referendum on same-sex marriage, which has generated a wave of television commercials and fierce public debate, took center stage Wednesday night in a debate between representatives from both campaigns.

Brian Souchet, of Brunswick, representing opponents of same-sex marriage, said marriage is a unique arrangement between a man and a woman that should be protected.

Mary Bonauto, of Portland, representing supporters of the new law allowing same-sex marriage, said the issue is about fairness and equality.

Full Story from the Morning Sentinel: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/7034479.html

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Maine.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in debate, Gay Marriage, maine, portland | No Responses »