Senate Hearing on DP Benefits for Gay Federal
Workers Bay Area Reporter by Bob Roehr
October 2, 2008
The case for equal benefits for
domestic partners of federal employees was laid out
in a hearing on September 24 before the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
and the Bush administration came out against the
proposal based on a bad movie.
Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), the lead
sponsor of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and
Obligations Act of 2007 (S 2521), said in his
opening statement that gay federal employees "would
be eligible to participate in health benefits,
long-term care, family and medical leave, federal
retirement benefits, and all other benefits for
which married employees and their spouses are
eligible."
"It's a matter of equal pay for equal work,"
Brendan Doyle told the committee. A member of
Federal GLOBE, the association of LGBT federal
employees, Doyle said his partner of 21 years must
pay $600 a month more for health insurance coverage
than a straight colleague who covers his family of
four.
"The federal government will find it harder to
attract and retain talented employees if
compensation does not keep up with the competition
for employees," concluded a study by the Williams
Institute at the UCLA School of Law. A majority of
America's 500 largest corporations now provide
domestic partnership benefits to their employees.
The study found that more than 30,000 federal
employees with same-sex partners would benefit from
enactment of the law. The increased cost would be
"only 0.4 percent of total health care expenditures,
a tiny fraction that is consistent with the
experience of thousands of private employers," said
study co-author Naomi Goldberg.
Howard C. Weizmann, deputy director of the Office
of Personnel Management, took no position for or
against the legislation in his opening statement.
But 10 minutes later, he said the administration's
position had changed to one opposing the measure.
He cited the potential for fraud, using the
example of the Hollywood comedy I Now Pronounce you
Chuck and Larry . The plot of the critically panned
movie is that two straight New York City firemen
pretend to be gay and marry in order to protect
survivors benefits for Larry's children.
Federal GLOBE President Leonard Hirsch was
outraged. He told the Washington Post, "It is an
insult to suggest there is any added likelihood of
fraud from LGBT employees. The proposed legislation
mandates a higher level of certification for LGBT
benefit enrollment than for heterosexual employees."
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights
Campaign, called it "a red herring ... Resorting to
a Hollywood comedy to justify opposing fair
compensation for all employees is a new low even for
this administration. ... Once again [it] has put
anti-gay ideology over sound business judgment and
common sense."
In other news, Congress passed a continuing
resolution that will keep the federal government
running until March 6. Congress has failed to enact
12 appropriations bills for the fiscal year that
begins October 1. It did not include increases in
funding for HIV/AIDS programs or Medicaid, both of
which are likely to see greater numbers of patients
seeking their help as the economy deteriorates.
