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Loading ...Arizona lawmakers seek to strip domestic partners of health coverage
06.05.2009 11:55am EDT
Arizona lawmakers are moving to take away health insurance coverage for the domestic partners of state and university employees. These rights were gained by domestic partners only one year ago.
About 750 workers would be affected says the Department of Administration. If put into affect, the state budget would define “dependents” of state employees who are entitled to coverage as a spouse or a child younger than 19, or younger than 23 if a full-time student.Then-Gov. Janet Napolitano added domestic partners and their children to the list of those covered last year, a decision which was opposed by Senate Majority Whip Pamela Gorman, (R-Anthem). Gorman believes such decisions should be left to state lawmakers.
Current Gov. Jan Brewer opposed granting unmarried domestic partners equal benefits that were given to married couples in a questionnaire she filled out in 2006 for the Center for Arizona Policy.
Members of LGBT advocacy groups, such as Barbara McCullough-Jones of Equality Arizona, are figuring out how best to fight such a decision.
“This particular benefit is critical because it is doing exactly what society asks us to do, and that’s to take care and be responsible for our families,” McCullough-Jones said.
Read the full Arizona Star story here.
Why not strip the Ku Klux Klan, I mean the Republican Party of their insurance benefits?
You can’t force people to support equal rights for the GLBT community, you must change the way people think. Progressive religeous leaders will be instrumental in changing minds of people of faith. I’m an athiest so I’m not a member of a faith based organization but they exist and are probably the most fervent supporters of the current state of descrimination (using mythological beliefs to justify their bad behavior the way 9/11 leaders did). Thus, I hope the “progressive” wing of religeon becomes the dominant form in our country. So far, it isn’t clear that is happening.
It’s the same actch-22 as the “abstinence until marriage” thing. If gay folks can’t legally get married, then they would have to stay abstinent permanently, which is exactly what they really want in the first place.
The law makers attempting to wihdraw this should really be ashamed of themselves, I mean really, how petty and sad. Why voters allow such small people to get into such large positons I’ll never know. I’m embarassed for them, those kind of actions exposes nothing more than a mean spirited individual.
And this is exactly why domestic partnership is not an acceptable alternative to marriage.
See Chris Sullivan’s comment above. I concur… This is very asinine. This further marginilizes The Party of No and Take it Back. We are witnessing actions that are turning the majority away from them. History is being made. Keep it up…
@Keith – you are completely wrong when you say “you can’t force people to support equal rights”…YES YOU CAN!!! If we waited for the public to be “ready” for equal rights we would not be the country we are suppose to be….they weren’t ready to give up slavery, weren’t ready to support inter-racial marriage etc. there are so many examples of Constitution being upheld to force equality when the public didn’t want it to….hence the reason it is important that we get the Federal Gov. involved. I am so sick and tired of religious apologist saying we have to dialogue and not force the issue….we’ve been dialoguing for 40 F*CKING YEARS!!!!!!! (you do remember a little thing called Stonewall? And many claim the Gay Civil Rights movement began long before that…but we’ll go with the popular date since you seem to like popular opinions so much)
It is time to actually do something and start demanding equality whether the hateful bigots are ready or not!!!!!
So here you have law makers removing 750 people / couples from the health insurance budget. And this is going to make a big dent in overall costs? Just how much more are these people costing compared to the ‘general’ population? Sorry I’m just an ignorant Canuck that has full marriage rights and has never paid for a doctor’s service or medical operation. Go figure.
The state of Arizona will save Three million dollars for doing this hateful cut in benefits (at least that is what they CLAIM)
At current value, three million is NOTHING! I am convinced it is just another ploy by the f*cking BIGOTS in this damned red state to deny equality…..AGAIN.
In response to Fed Up’s info regarding some in the state of AZ saying they’ll save money: Sometimes it costs a government money to take care of its people. After all, what are we here for? That’s an unethical way to save money. Period.
they (lawmaker) should strip themselves of their benefits as well and while at it remove the tax empt status for all religious organizations
..and remember all thinking of Arizona. 90% of Arizona primary care MD’s DO NOT TAKE MEDICARE patients!
“You can’t force people to support equal rights for the GLBT community”
The Constitution does just that.
Amazing how much these people hate us. I think everyone stripped of insurance coverage should apply for welfare. I’ll not be spending any money in Arizona.
I knew this would happen the minute President Obama nominated governor Janet Napolitano to head the Office of Homeland Security. What else do you expect of the bigoted republicans? I still cannot understand how a LGBT person can be a member of the republican party. There is no such thing as a “moderate” republican in the AZ legislature. This is the same legislature which twisted senate rules to vote the gay marriage amendment on the ballot last November (2008) after the first ballot initiative failed in the November 2006 election.
The great state of AZ also has a law prohibiting more than one sex toy in a residence at a time, a fact I recently learned. You can have more than one object to kill someone, but not too many to have pleasure! These type of stupid and totally invasive laws were probably made by the same stupid anal puritins who want to strip DP benefits. Frankly I’m surprised AZ granted them in the first place! BTW,republicans at all levels in society constantly repeat the mantra “no big government”, when it comes to regulating business. But why do they need big government to tell them what they can and can’t do in the privacy of their own homes?