Domestic Partners

The newly merged ExxonMobil Corp. has just taken a giant step backward by discontinuing benefits to domestic partners.ExxonMobil announced recently that it will end Mobil's previous practice of providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay or lesbian employees. Current workers who had the benefits from Mobil will get to keep them, but anyone hired after November -- and longtime Mobil employees who begin new relationships -- is out of luck.Ending domestic-partner benefits is not only unfair, it also bucks industry trends.

The Johns Hopkins University will extend its benefits package to the same-sex domestic partners of its employees starting next year.The decision by school President William R. Brody comes after almost five years of discussion, according to university officials who said the change was first recommended by a benefits equity task force in 1994."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pressing a new case for the equal treatment of same-sex couples, San Francisco is moving to become the first major city in the country to require the companies with which it does business to offer health and other benefits to the unmarried partners of their employees.The city's board of supervisors passed legislation by a 10-0 vote Monday to prohibit the city government from contracting with companies that do not make the same benefits available to employees' domestic partners that they do to the married spouses of their workers.

A proposal that would extend most spousal benefits to "domestic partners" of employees of the University of Maryland System is under attack from the state's two top legislative officials.State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and Maryland House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. have written separate letters to the chairman of the system's board of regents asking that he put off a scheduled July 12 vote on the controversial measure.The two men oppose the measure because of its potential cost -- downplayed by its advocates -- and because they say they believe it is a concern that should be taken up by the General Assembly.

A PROPOSAL to extend husband-wife benefits to most employees of the University of Maryland System comes before UM's board of regents Friday, and it will be a case of the earnest democratic process confronting the steel-edged reality of politics.The "domestic partner benefits" measure was recommended by a 5-2 vote this spring by an ad hoc university committee. It held hearings, conducted interactive video sessions with constituents and considered 250 pieces of correspondence. (Many more letters have flowed since the committee's recommendation in April.

ATLANTA -- Just days after Mayor Bill Campbell signed into law a measure to grant health and other benefits to domestic partners of unmarried city employees, opponents filed a lawsuit challenging it as fiscally irresponsible and at odds with the state's recently passed ban on same-sex marriage.The Atlanta ordinance was the second effort in the past three years by people who support the extension of some benefits to the partners of city workers in nontraditional but committed unions.A similar measure, passed in 1993, never went into effect and was overturned in part by the Georgia Supreme Court last year.

In an effort to shore up support for a controversial gay rights bill, three Baltimore City Council members have revised a plan to set up a municipal registry and provide hospital visitation rights for domestic partners.The new version of the measure narrows the definition of domestic partnership to exclude heterosexual couples. Under the original proposal, any two people of any sex who lived together would have been able to register as domestic partners.Proponents believe the changes will allay some concerns raised by black ministers and could generate enough council votes for approval.

In what is at least a temporary setback for gay rights advocates in Baltimore, a bill to set up a municipal registry for "domestic partnerships" failed last night to muster enough votes to pass a key test in the City Council.The council voted 10-6 with one abstention to send the bill back to committee. That vote came after the council voted 8-7 with two abstentions to kill a series of technical amendments to the legislation, which would allow members of nontraditional households to document their relationships and possibly qualify for benefits from private employers now given only to married couples.

As lawmakers from Hawaii to Maryland grapple with the issues of same-sex marriage and "domestic partnership," gays and lesbians are redefining those relationships in diverse ways.Jennifer Roberts and her partner have chosen to participate in a commitment ceremony performed by a rabbi and to construct a union that in some ways resembles a heterosexual marriage. The two women have lived together in Baltimore County nearly five years and are rearing two children from a marriage.However, for two men whose relationship has weathered nine years, the choice has been to live in separate Charles Village homes -- six blocks apart.

Dangerous DietI am outraged at the Aug. 25 article regarding "strict diets" for children. The diet laid out by Dr. Robert Suskind, one consisting of 600 to 800 calories a day diet for a child, should immediately be recognized as dangerous.In fact, Dr. Suskind himself admitted later in the article that children who had been placed on this diet "had growth rates slightly below normal." Yet he contended that the diet was "safe when used under a doctor's supervision."How can any diet that could possibly affect a child's growth be deemed as "safe?"

Lawmakers finally agree on budget funding, cuts Lawmakers in the House and Senate wrapped up their work on the Maryland's $31.2 billion budget yesterday, finally coming to agreement on some of the belt-tightening measures both chambers employed in the face of shrinking tax revenues and continued fiscal challenges. All told, they cut more than $300 million from Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget plan. They have shaved more than $1 billion from planned state spending since the 2007 legislative session.

In a move to bolster gay rights, the Maryland Senate gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bill that would allow domestic partners to make medical and funeral decisions for each other, share a nursing home room and visit at their hospital bedsides. With efforts to grant same-sex couples the same legal recognition as married couples sputtering in the General Assembly, legislation to grant rights piecemeal might be the best hope for gay-rights advocates this year. The legislature also is considering measures to exempt domestic partners from inheritance and certain real estate taxes, which proponents say are needed if broader protections are not enacted.

Jodi Kelber-Kaye was thrown out of a hospital room when her long-time partner was emerging from heart surgery. Lisa Polyak was refused access as her partner received an anaesthetic before giving birth to their second child. And John Lestitian was left to haggle with the estranged parents of his late partner over their son's death wishes. All say they would have been helped by a bill up for a vote by the state Senate today that would create a registry of domestic partners and give unmarried couples such benefits as the right to make medical decisions for one another and visit each other in the hospital.

LAST MONTH, Howard County government decided to start extending health benefits to same-sex domestic partners and their children. It was a smart move - without significant financial cost to the county but fair-minded and helpful if the county wants to recruit and retain the best possible employees. Similar benefits are now offered in Montgomery County and to city employees in Baltimore and Washington and a handful of municipalities in the D.C. suburbs, including Hyattsville, Takoma Park and Greenbelt.

An Annapolis alderman wants to offer health benefits to same-sex partners of city employees, but first he is looking into whether the city can afford it this year. Alderman Josh Cohen said Friday that he might still introduce an amendment to next year's proposed city budget despite preliminary estimates from the city's insurance consultant that the measure could cost from $100,000 to $1 million in the first year, depending on how it is structured. The plan would include coverage for unmarried heterosexual domestic partners as well as same-sex domestic partners.

An Annapolis alderman wants to offer health benefits to same-sex partners of city employees, but first he is looking into whether the city can afford it this year. Alderman Josh Cohen said Friday that he might still introduce an amendment to next year's proposed city budget despite preliminary estimates from the city's insurance consultant that the measure could cost from $100,000 to $1 million in the first year, depending on how it is structured. The plan would include coverage for unmarried heterosexual domestic partners as well as same-sex domestic partners.

Howard Community College's board of trustees extended benefits last night to domestic partners of employees, a policy gaining popularity at four-year institutions but still rare at two-year campuses. Under the new policy, unmarried partners of staff members - same or opposite sex - will be able to take classes at HCC for free and participate in the campus legal plan, benefits that used to be offered only to spouses of employees. The seven-member board could not extend health coverage to domestic partners because that decision is up to county officials.

Howard Community College officials are mulling whether to extend benefits to domestic partners of employees - a policy at four-year institutions but less common for two-year campuses. HCC's board of trustees last night discussed implementing such a policy and asked administrators to research financial and other implications. They expect a report in August. "We don't live in our own vacuum. Let's look at what this means to the community," said Joan Athen, who chairs the trustees. "But I think our mission gives a lot of credence" to offering the benefits.

The newly merged ExxonMobil Corp. has just taken a giant step backward by discontinuing benefits to domestic partners.ExxonMobil announced recently that it will end Mobil's previous practice of providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay or lesbian employees. Current workers who had the benefits from Mobil will get to keep them, but anyone hired after November -- and longtime Mobil employees who begin new relationships -- is out of luck.Ending domestic-partner benefits is not only unfair, it also bucks industry trends.

The Johns Hopkins University will extend its benefits package to the same-sex domestic partners of its employees starting next year.The decision by school President William R. Brody comes after almost five years of discussion, according to university officials who said the change was first recommended by a benefits equity task force in 1994."