Public Employers Axing Domestic Partner Benefits

A number of states that have banned same sex marriage have begun to eliminate health and other benefits for domestic partners of public employees, USA Today reports.

According to USA Today, among the 27 states that have passed amendments to their constitutions that define marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman, Michigan has "gone the farthest, prohibiting cities, universities and other public employers from offering benefits to same-sex partners."

A Michigan court in February ruled that public employers cannot offer benefits to domestic partners because of an amendment to the state constitution passed in 2004. The case has moved to the state Supreme Court. Public employers in Michigan previously offered benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

In addition, Kentucky Attorney General Gregory Stumbo this month ruled that the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville cannot offer benefits to domestic partners, and a U.S. appeals court last year upheld an amendment to the Nebraska constitution under which public employers cannot offer benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

In Ohio, state Rep. Tom Brinkman (R) has filed a lawsuit that seeks to eliminate benefits offered by Miami University of Ohio to same-sex domestic partners (Bello, USA Today, 6/20).