Equal rights

More than 150 families of Boston city employees don't have health insurance. The state legislature can change that with one simple vote.

Here in Boston, 161 families that had health insurance last November are living without it now. It's not because the primary wage earners in these families lost their jobs -- it's because the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in July that state insurance regulations prohibit the extension of health-care benefits to the domestic partners of municipal employees. Throughout the state, there are hundreds of other families whose benefits are jeopardized by this ruling. Unlike most problems raised in the health-care debate, however, this one has an easy solution: amend the state insurance regulation.

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson has filed a bill that would expand the categories of insurance beneficiaries, now limited to spouses and unmarried children under 19, to include domestic partners and their unmarried children under 19. The bill was passed by the Senate in December. Now it sits in the House. Advocates say it has enough votes to pass. The key, they say, is to persuade House Speaker Tom Finneran to let the bill come up for a vote.

The issue is one of basic fairness. Something is wrong with a system that lets a heterosexual employee who's been married for two weeks add her husband to her health plan while the same right is denied to a gay employee who's been in a committed relationship for 20 years. The issue is also one of common sense. In this tight labor market, companies are doing whatever they can to keep valued employees and attract new ones. The Commonwealth and local municipalities would do well to offer the same domestic-partner benefits already in place at IBM, Disney, AT&T, Harvard University, MIT, and approximately 2800 other schools, businesses, and nonprofits. (Note: the Boston Phoenix offers these benefits.)

To be sure, the bill under consideration is flawed by its offer of domestic-partner benefits to unmarried heterosexual couples. A legal remedy is already in place for such families if they wish to take fuller advantage of employment health benefits: they can apply for a marriage license and sign on the dotted line. This is not an option for gay and lesbian employees. And as long as the state is going to deny the right of marriage to gay and lesbian citizens, it should, at minimum, allow gay and lesbian municipal employees to add their partners and their partners' children to their health plans. It's a simple matter of equal compensation for equal work. State representatives should pass this bill, and Governor Paul Cellucci should sign it.

In the meantime, the Boston City Council could do more to lobby for the rights of the 161 municipal families without full health-care benefits. In 1998 the council forwarded a home-rule petition to the state legislature that would have allowed the city to offer domestic-partnership benefits. The legislature passed the bill, which was vetoed by Cellucci. Cellucci's veto prompted Boston mayor Tom Menino to issue an executive order extending domestic-partnership benefits. It was this order that the SJC found to be out of compliance with state law. The city council can't issue another home-rule petition, but members who say they support domestic-partnership benefits (at-large councilors Peggy Davis-Mullen, Stephen Murphy, and Michael Flaherty and district councilors Maureen Feeney, Charles Yancey, Dan Conley, Maura Hennigan, Chuck Turner, Michael Ross, and Brian Honan) can lobby state representatives for quick passage of the domestic-partner bill. In addition, the councilors who favor domestic-partnership benefits should use their majority position on the council to send a strong message by passing a resolution expressing support for the bill.

What you can do

Tell your state representative that you want the domestic-partnership bill passed. If you don't know who your state rep is, call (617) 722-2356 or visit http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/legis/citytown.htm.

You can also tell House Speaker Tom Finneran that you want the bill put to a vote. Call (617) 722-2500.

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com.