In Brief: Protecting Our Families

From October 2010 eNews

While Lambda Legal's fight for marriage equality grabs a lot of headlines, it is just a fraction of the work we do to seek protection and benefits for same-sex couples and their families.

Our work in this area began in the 1980s, when we fought for health care and survivor benefits for the partners of lesbian and gay public and private employees, and two current cases highlighted in this issue of eNews are examples of our fight for domestic partner registries.

In both Appling v. Doyle and Cleveland Taxpayers v. Cleveland, antigay groups went to court to try to get rid of domestic partnership registries, alleging that the registries violate amendments to a state constitution limiting marriage to different-sex couples. And in both cases, we argued that there is no comparison between domestic partnership and marriage. The unanimous decision in Cleveland agreed and the court cited our brief: The term "'domestic partner' completely lacks the social and emotive resonance of 'husband' and 'wife.'"

But in places where same-sex couples are unfairly excluded from marriage, domestic partnerships can represent access to health insurance and employee benefits and a host of other important protections. And history is on our side: When antigay groups attacked domestic partnership benefits in New Orleans in 1997, the city asked Lambda Legal to help fight back. Our victory in that case means that the city's registry remains intact, as do benefits for same-sex partners of public employees.

In 1999, we helped overturn Georgia's shameful statewide ban on health insurance coverage for domestic partners. In 2005, we represented Larry deGroen, a firefighter and paramedic in Bellevue, Washington, to seek family benefits for Tom Dixon, his partner of 16 years. When Tom's father died, Larry took one day of paid funeral leave, but his superiors ordered him to reimburse the city by working an additional day of overtime without pay. We sued the city on behalf of Larry and two other employees who were being denied domestic partner health coverage, and within two months, the city council approved family benefits for gay and lesbian employees and their partners.

Last year, when Arizona enacted a law stripping lesbian and gay state employees of domestic partner health coverage, Lambda Legal sued to block its enforcement. The judge issued a preliminary injunction, so workers' benefits remain intact while we continue to fight in court against this unfair law. And this spring, when Hawai'i Governor Linda Lingle vetoed a civil union bill, we sued on behalf of six same-sex couples left vulnerable by the state's inadequate "reciprocal beneficiary" status.

We won't settle for anything less than full equality. But in the meantime, we continue fighting to make sure our families are as well protected as possible.