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LOCALLY OWNED A OPERATED
Jieme D
‘ clwvud
T he lawsuit asks the court
to declare Florida’s law ban
ning same-sex marriage
unconstitutional. The com
plaint names six couples,
mostly local, who had been
turned away by the clerk of
the courts office when they
attempted to file for a mar
riage license.
“Key West is a wonderful
ly accepting place where
everyone respects my rela
tionship with my partner.
But when Steven and I leave
the island, that sense of secu
rity disappears. We don’t feel
comfortable holding hands
for fear of being verbally or
even physically harassed,”
said the Rev. Geoff Leonard-
Robinson, pastor of Key
W est’s M etropolitan C om
munity Church. “Part of the
Prudential Financial has denied medical insurance coverage for
reason 1 think people are
retiree Laurel Awishus’ spouse, Kathy Adelsheim, even though
com
dem
.. couple
■ are legally
t u married
• .
. . . fortable
.
. . onstrating ® the
their bigotry is because our
—
state government fosters it through discrimina
its members would be harmed directly by the
tory laws.”
outcome of the case.
"We are very pleased by the court’s ruling,”
NEW MEXICO
said Shannon Minter, National C enter for Les
Q aying that Prudential Financial’s denial of bian Rights legal director. “This case is about
O benefits to the spouse of a New Mexico les
real families who are harmed by being denied
bian retiree is baseless and uncharacteristic,
the right to marry. T he couples who brought this
Lambda Legal last m onth formally asked the
lawsuit are entitled to their day in court without
company to reconsider the decision.
undue interference by an outside group with no
A fter her marriage in C anada, Laurel
direct interest in the case. The court correctly
Awishus, who worked for the company for 20
found that merely having a political interest in
years, sought to enroll her partner of nearly 22
an issue does not meet the legal standard for
years, Kathy Adelsheim, in the medical benefits
intervention.”
program offered to the company’s retirees and
spouses. Prudential Financial offers benefits to
the domestic partners of gay and lesbian
n a sure sign that supporters of equal marriage
employees but says it only offers those benefits
rights have momentum on their side, state
in retirement if they retired after Jan. 1, 2000.
Sen.
Pete
Knight,
Straight spouses are entitled to benefits regard
R-Palmdale, author of
less of retirement date.
Proposition 22, Califor
“W hen Ms. Awishus and her wife married
nia’s law designed to pre
in C anada, they becam e spouses and are e n ti
vent recognition of same-
tled to benefits o th e r spouses enjoy,” attorney
sex marriages performed
Brian C hase said. "P rudential F in an cial’s
in other states, now says
action in this m atter is a departure from their
he would “support some
treatm ent of gay and lesbian employees in the
thing short of marriage”
. M
Pete
Knight
for
gay and lesbian cou
past.
Prudential Financial is partly using the Inter ples if advocates would give up on equal mar
nal Revenue Service’s definition of whether the
riage recognition.
women are married to justify its decision. Lamb
“The fact that Sen. Knight, a man who has
da Legal says that rationale is flawed because the
spent many years fighting to prevent families
IRS does not decide who is married.
headed by lesbian and gay couples from obtain
“O ne of the reasons I’m in this precarious
ing any legal rights, has shifted his position
spot is that 19 years ago I moved with Laurel to
demonstrates his acknowledgment that most
New Jersey when the company transferred her,” Californians do not support his extreme posi
tion,” said Geoffrey Kors, Equality California
Adelsheim said. “I left a promising career
behind— that included benefits. I wasn’t treat executive director. “His move towards allowing
ed like a spouse then because we weren’t mar rights and benefits for same-sex couples in
ried. Now we’re married, and that should be
exchange for our accepting some form of
second-class status for our relationships is a cleaV
respected.”
sign that he realizes that the march towards
CALIFORNIA
equality cannot be stopped.”
uling from the bench after hearing ex ten
Just last year, Knight lost a preliminary
sive oral arguments from both sides, Supe injunction he filed in a suit to stop California’s
rior C ourt Judge James L. W arren denied the
groundbreaking domestic partner law from
request of the Proposition 22 Legal Defense
going into effect and failed to gamer sufficient
and Education Fund to participate as a party in
signatures to put that measure on the ballot in
a lawsuit seeking the right of same-sex couples
an attem pt to overturn it. “The fact that the
to marry.
politician who has been the leader of the move
Woo vs. Lockyer— filed on behalf of six
ment to deny same-sex couples legal recognition
is now willing to accept domestic partnership
same-sex couples, Equality California and Our
Families Coalition— argues that denying gay demonstrates that the entire debate has shifted
and that we are heading in the right direction,”
men and lesbians the right to marry violates the
Kors said. j n
California C onstitution’s guarantees of equality,
liberty and privacy. Warren held that the Propo
Compiled by News Editor JlM R a p OSTA, who can
sition 22 fund did not meet the legal standard
be reached at jim@ justout .com.
for intervention because it had not shown how
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