This week’s Marriage News Watch is here:

Following is the text of Matt Baume’s report:

Civil unions are legal starting now in Delaware. State offices are closed on Monday, but one county clerk opened early on New Year’s Day to solemnize eight unions. Among those: Lisa Goodman, President of Equality Delaware.

Hawaii’s civil unions also started on January First, despite a last-minute lawsuit by an Oahu church group. The two congregations in Waipahu claim that allowing civil unions violates their freedom of religion. It’s a weird argument: they’re saying that the civil unions law forces them to rent out their facilities to LGBT couples. The state has responded, saying in essence, “no it doesn’t.” And a judge agreed.

And despite a ruling expected any day now in the Prop 8 case, California still doesn’t have marriage. And its civil unions still fall short of offering the same protections. But that gap will close slightly this month, with the enactment of the Domestic Partner Equality Act. The bill was authored by Senator Mark Leno of San Francisco and passed with the help of Equality California, and it corrects numerous inequalities between civil unions and marriage. Among them: residency requirements, age limitations, divorce procedures, and confidentiality. Previously, straight couples were allowed to seal their names for privacy when getting married, while LGBTs were prohibited from doing so.

Of course, this patchwork approach to civil unions gets us closer to equality, but it doesn’t change the ultimate goal: marriage.

This week the cause got a boost in North Carolina, with the state Psychological Association stating its opposition to a constitutional ban on marriage equality. The NCPA wrote, “There is no empirical evidence that supports the denial of marriage rights to people in same-sex relationships,” and added, “differentiation based on sexual orientation is an expression of prejudice.”

In international news, eight couples will marry in Cancun, where marriage equality isn’t explicitly allowed, but it also isn’t prohibited.

We’ve seen a lot of progress around the globe in the last year, particularly in South America and Europe, but some countries still lag behind. A new poll in Lithuania shows just 4% support civil unions. But that number may not be right. We know Lithuania’s not a great place for equality, but a survey in 2009 showed support at 42%, and a 2006 survey came in at 17%. The timing is also a little suspicious, since a civil unions bill is currently stalled in Parliament.

Those are the headlines, visit us over at MarriageNewsWatch.com for more on all these stories and to sign up for email alerts for breaking news stories. And check out AFER.org for details on the fight for federal marriage equality. I’m Matt Baume at the American Foundation for Equal Rights. We’ll see you next week.

The registry, which takes effect Jan. 12, will extend vital legal protections to gay and lesbian families.

The Orlando City Council voted unanimously Dec. 12 to enact the domestic partnership registry, as the city became the first in Central Florida to recognize relationships of same-sex couples.

Couples who record their relationships in the registry are entered in a government database and then can visit each other in the hospital or jail, make health-care decisions for an incapacitated partner and plan a partner’s funeral.

Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan pushed for the registry, noting that same-sex couples are often barred from seeing their partners during medical emergencies because state law doesn’t recognize them as family. Gay people are sometimes unable to execute a partner’s funeral plans for the same reason.

“It’s not as many rights as marriage, but it helps couples during very difficult times,” Sheehan said.

The Orlando Sentinel

The registry only applies to hospitals and other institutions in Orlando. Still, people who live outside the city are allowed to sign up.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he expects some non-residents to do that because anyone in Central Florida could at some point be a patient at Orlando Health or Florida Hospital, the region’s two biggest hospitals — both hospitals are in Orlando and thus required to treat registered partners as family members.

Rick Snyder

The bill has attracted sharp criticism from the media, university leaders, business leaders, and progressive organizations throughout the state.

HB 4771, which the Governor vetoed, would have prohibited unions from including similar coverage in collective bargaining agreements. Both bills passed the legislature on December 13 — lawsuits on behalf of affected families will likely be filed soon.

Anti-gay Republicans Representative Dave Agema (sponsor or the bills) and Attorney General Bill Schuette have been trying to strip away health care coverage for gay and lesbian families since February, said Emily Dievendorf, Director of Policy for Equality Michigan.

“Governor Snyder’s support for this bill is appalling. Today, the Governor told unmarried public employees that they can no longer care for their partners or children. He has put hardworking gay and lesbian couples and their children into harm’s way by eliminating important health care coverage. He has spent the last two years talking about creating a welcoming state with a attractive business climate, and this bill flies in the face of those goals,” Dievendorf said.

“All families in our state, including gay and lesbian families, should have fair access to health care coverage. Governor Snyder caved to the radical social agenda coming from the legislature. He has rejected our shared commitment to economic growth. In order to compete in today’s global business environment, we must build a culture that prioritizes fundamental fairness. This law will only serve to hurt Michigan.”

The bill affects many public entities that currently provide coverage for domestic partners of employees, including:

• University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University and 11 of the 12 other public universities;
• State of Michigan (33,000 eligible employees under contracts that went into effect in 2011);
• At least eight cities, counties and school districts, including Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo.

“The decision to take healthcare benefits away from families just in time for the holidays is mean-spirited and cruel. Governor Snyder had an opportunity to show real leadership and put an end to the political games; instead he approved an extreme policy that sets our state back, jeopardizes our economy and puts our families at risk,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan ACLU.

“The bill serves no other purpose than to single out a small minority of people and deprive them of critical protections as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. We are prepared to challenge this law on behalf of Michigan families in the coming weeks,” Moss said.

The registry, which takes effect January 12th, will extend vital legal protections to gay and lesbian families.

When the registry goes into effect, any unmarried couple who lives, works or visits Orlando can gain the right to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner, be notified in a life threatening emergency, visit a partner in a health-care facility and participate in the education of a partner’s children, according to Equality Florida.

The proposal was discussed for about 90 minutes, with about 20 speakers voicing their support for the registry. Just one speaker spoke against the measure before it was approved by the council by a vote of 7-0.

“I support the domestic partnership registry because I believe it keeps us competitive with other world-class communities,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

“A domestic partnership registry helps us recruit employers who share our commitment to diversity while attracting and retaining a creative workforce that knows they’ll have protections for their families,” said Dyer.

The companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives was introduced by Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).

Under the bill, a federal employee and same-sex domestic partner, who are not related by blood and are living together in a committed intimate relationship, would be eligible to participate in federal retirement, life insurance, health, workers’ compensation, and Family and Medical Leave benefits to the same extent as married employees and their spouses.

“This legislation is the next step to achieving equity for the gay community,” Lieberman said, in a statement.

“We repealed the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy in the military because we want the best men and women America has to offer to defend our country. The same is true for federal employees: we want to attract the best men and women possible to serve in federal government. One way to do that is by offering competitive benefits to the family members of gay federal employees. This legislation makes good economic sense. It is sound policy. And it is the right thing to do.”

Lieberman, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Collins, the ranking member, previously introduced the legislation in the past two Congresses. The Committee held two hearings on the bill and approved the measure in 2009.

In the U.S. House, Baldwin said “the federal government must set an example as an equal opportunity employer.”

“If we are to treat all federal employees fairly and recruit the best and the brightest to serve in government, we need this legislation,” she said.

According to a 2009 UCLA Williams Institute report, more that 30,000 federal workers live in committed relationships with same-sex domestic partners who are not federal employees.

Nearly 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies now offer health benefits to employees’ domestic partners, up from just 25 percent in 2000.

In enacting the ordinance, Broward County adopts one of the nation’s most significant policies furthering workplace equality.

“This is a big win,” said Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida, the state’s oldest gay-rights group.

“This ordinance puts Broward’s domestic-partner policies among the very strongest in the county. If you want to do business with Broward County, you must treat domestic partners and married employees equally,” Pollitzer said.

Broward is the first county Florida to adopt an EBO. In 2005 Miami Beach became the first city in the state to pass an EBO, and the Miami Beach policy has been praised by the city commission and the staff, while reporting no negative fiscal impact.

The EBO applies to companies who are in contracts of $100,000 or more with the county and who have 5 or more employees. If a company does not currently provide benefits to the spouses of their employees, then they are not required to provide benefits to the domestic partners of their employees.

If companies are not able to provide benefits to domestic partners, they may provide the cash equivalent to the employee and still meet the requirements of the EBO.

House Bills 4770 and 4771, approved by the House of Representatives in a 64-44 vote in September and then by the Senate Committee on Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing last week would prohibit any government entity in the state from providing such benefits.

Several public entities, representing tens of thousands of workers, currently provide such benefits for domestic partners of employees, including the State of Michigan, at least 10 public universities, at least 5 city and county governments, and at least 3 public school districts.

U-M Latin professor Sara Ahbel-Rappe said that if bill 4770 passes there will likely be a large exodus of professors who leave the university, reported Ann-Arbor.com.

“It’s a total slap in the face. It tells me that I don’t deserve the same consideration” as heterosexual couples, she said. “People will leave.”

Ahbel-Rappe and six other professors authored a letter to Gov. Rick Synder asking him not to sign bill 4770 if passed by the senate. The letter calls the bill discriminatory and says it will negatively affect staff recruitment at the university.

U-M officials are also concerned about the bill’s effects. Nearly all of U-M’s competitors offer benefits to same-sex partners. So do most Fortune 500 companies.

“These benefits are important for the successful recruitment and retention of our top-flight faculty and staff,” said Cynthia Wilbanks, U-M’s vice president of government relations. “We’re in competition on a lot of levels, this would be an added competitive disadvantage.”

Wilbanks said the university is actively lobbying politicians in Lansing.

Will it be enough? “If the bill gets to the senate floor there will be a vigorous debate …” she said, “but over a long career, I have learned not to speculate.”

Ann-Arbor.com

Sonya Alvarado, president of the Eastern Michigan University Federation of Teachers union, said the bill sends the wrong message to college students.

“The message we would be sending to our students if this goes through is a negative one,” she said. “The university is about inclusion. The university is about open discussion. This bill just goes against everything that the university is about.”

The release of the petitions — showing the 138,000 signatures for Referendum 71 — came despite an attorney’s vow to appeal the ruling and seek temporary protection from the disclosure of names.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma said there was insufficient evidence of likely danger to R-71 signers to carve out an exception to state public records law that would shield the names of people who signed it.

In a strongly worded, 34-page ruling, Settle said every citizen should be concerned that advocating for traditional marriage, as Protect Marriage does, engenders such hostility in this state.

Yet, if Protect Marriage could get around the Public Records Act “by simply providing a few isolated incidents of profane or indecent statements, gestures, or other examples of uncomfortable conversations, … disclosure would become the exception instead of the rule,” the judge said.

The Seattle Times

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that release of the signatures does not violate constitutional rights, but the justices allowed advocates to prove that the release would put signers in danger.

Washington’s Republican secretary of state Sam Reed says he’s pleased that open government prevailed.

“If somebody wants to change the laws in the State of Washington, they really ought to do it in the public square,” Reed said. “Do it publicly, just like legislators do who sponsor legislation.”

Referendum 71 asked voters to approve or reject the state’s domestic partnership law, which granted registered domestic partners additional state rights previously given only to married couples. It was approved with 53 percent of the vote.

Protect Marriage Washington is an affiliate of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage.

Two websites run by gay rights activists say they plan to post the names of the referendum petition signers online, in a searchable format.

State Rep. Mark Pafford (D-West Palm Beach) on Monday filed House Bill 139, referred to as the Domestic Partnerships Act. State Sen. Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale), is the sponsor of the Senate version, SB-139.

“It is only sensible that we do all we can to attract and retain the best and brightest to work in Florida and to grow businesses here,” said Pafford, in a statement released to Equality Florida.

“By recognizing domestic partnerships, we will take a leap forward in improving our economy and the manner in which our residents are treated. It makes good economic sense, it is sound personnel policy, and it is the right thing to do.”

The filing comes as more local municipalities in Florida have adopted vital workplace protections that are often the only means for same-sex couples to get health care benefits.

With 6.7 million people living in communities that recognize domestic partnerships, Florida currently ranks seventh in the nation. Pafford’s bill would make these protections and responsibilities available to all couples statewide.

According to research conducted by Equality Florida, nearly 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies and a majority of Florida’s universities offer domestic partner benefits in order to attract and retain the best and brightest employees. The Domestic Partnerships Act would grant individuals in a domestic partnership the same benefits and responsibilities currently available through marriage.

“Equality Florida is proud to work with Rep. Pafford and Sen. Sobel to provide these important protections to Florida’s domestic partners, gay and straight,” said Mallory Wells, public policy director for Equality Florida.

“Equality Florida has also been working with municipalities across the state, as well as private employers, including Pepsico, Citi Bank, BlueCross BlueShield of Florida and Wells Fargo, who offer domestic partner benefits because they recognize that workplace inequities create obstacles to attracting and retaining top talent,” said Wells.

“I’m proud to have filed this bill over the past three years to draw attention to disparities in the workplace,” said Sobel. “Equality Florida has done a remarkable job getting these provisions approved … Now it is time to ensure this basic fairness all across our state.”

This week’s Marriage News Watch is here:

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And, time’s running out before North Carolina votes on banning civil unions, a tribe in Washington state votes unanimously to recognize LGBT marriage, and a survey in New Jersey proves that we’re winning. And also, that we’re losing.

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ACLU

Plaintiffs in Donaldson and Guggenheim v. State of Montana

The suit, filed in July 2010 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of seven gay couples in Montana, said the state failed to offer legal protections to same-sex couples and their families, and claimed that same sex couples are being denied their rights of privacy, dignity and the pursuit of life’s basic necessities as provided for in the Montana Constitution.

On April 19, District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock’s ruled: “…in spite of this Court’s sympathy for the plight of the Plaintiffs this court finds that the state’s motion to dismiss should be granted.”

The Montana Constitution guarantees that all people, including gay and lesbian couples, should be treated equally and fairly, the ACLU said.

This case presents fundamental issues of privacy and equal protection that need to be resolved by Montana’s highest court.

“The couples we represent knew there might be some bumps along the way, but they are committed to seeing this case through so that they and all same-sex couples and their families can get the protections they need but are currently denied to them in Montana,” said ACLU of Montana Legal Director Betsy Griffing.

“Our constitution requires that the state treat couples in committed relationships fairly and equally regardless of whether they are same-sex or different-sex couples.”

via: ACLU

A recent poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the American Civil Liberties Union, found that 53 percent of Montana voters favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into domestic partnerships which include the same rights given to married couples. Only 40 percent oppose such partnerships.

Recently released 2010 U.S. Census numbers show 2,295 Montana same-sex households –- a 54 percent jump since 2000. All are at risk without the legal protection of domestic partnerships.

This week’s Marriage News Watch is here:

Transcript and links for this episode are here.

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Plus hearings on DOMA repeal, with Al Franken calling out an anti-gay liar. Plus more news from Maryland to Washington state.

This week’s Marriage News Watch is here:

Transcript and links for this episode are here.

Click here to subscribe to our new YouTube channel, and visit us over at MarriageNewsWatch.com to find our new Facebook page, our Twitter feed, our RSS feed, and our email newsletter.

This week;’s Marriage News Watch is here:

Transcript and links for this episode are here.

Click here to subscribe to our new YouTube channel, and visit us over at MarriageNewsWatch.com to find our new Facebook page, our Twitter feed, our RSS feed, and our email newsletter.