Ingham County's Commissioners at a Board Leadership meeting on December 6, 2007, at 6:00pm, Commissioners will start a conversation about what actions they should take, if any,  in regard to county Domestic Partnership benefits.  The need for a discussion is due to the 2007 Michigan Court of Appeals decision to repeal domestic partner benefits offered to partners of state agency employees.  This decision terminated the benefits for partners of gay persons that work for the state.  The court of appeals interpreted the language in the 2004 amendment to the Michigan Constitution banning same-sex marriages to also ban the state from recognizing domestic partnerships for purposes of granting medical benefits.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

The Michigan Marriage Amendment (Proposal 2) does not prohibit public employers from offering domestic partner healthcare benefits. The amendment's purpose is to preserve and protect the benefits of marriage; health care benefits for a spouse are benefits of employment, not benefits of marriage. The recent decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals denies citizens of Michigan the right to include their spouses in healthcare benefit coverage!

Employer provided health insurance does not create a legal marriage or a union that is similar to marriage. Many of the requirements for domestic partner benefits are different from the requirements of marriage. Legal marriage contains a myriad of rights, responsibilities, benefits and privileges - far beyond that of healthcare coverage. In fact, marriage does not guarantee health insurance coverage for spouses of employees.

Michigan voters who approved Proposal 2 in November of 2004, did not want to take away health insurance from families and children. The proponents of Proposal 2 campaigned on the issue of marriage, not health insurance benefits.

We must allow our citizens the ability to protect their children and spouses with their healthcare coverage!

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
December 06, 2007