News :: GLBT
Ala. legislator seeks to block same-sex benefitsMonday Nov 16, 2009 Montgomery, AL - An Alabama legislator is picking up support for his bill to stop the state’s public universities from offering employee benefits to same-sex couples.
Rep. DuWayne Bridges, R-Valley, said he has prepared a bill for the legislative session beginning in January. The bill would prohibit public universities from receiving state funds if they offer benefits to same-sex partners.
"I don’t think universities should waste money by making a liberal or politically correct statement," Bridges said.
His bill is aimed at two campuses of the University of Alabama System, which Bridges said are ignoring the intent of a 2006 amendment to Alabama’s constitution that banned same-sex marriages.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham on Oct. 1 began enrolling eligible adult domestic partners of either sex of faculty and staff in medical, dental and vision plans. The University of Alabama in Huntsville will extend benefits to domestic partners Jan. 1.
At the University of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus, President Robert Witt recently told the faculty that the policy is under consideration.
Auburn University does not offer domestic partner benefits, a spokesman said.
Dale Turnbough, a UAB spokeswoman, said offering the benefits helps UAB’s medical school compete with other top schools that routinely offer the benefits. She said partner benefits "create a positive, supportive, and diverse work environment in which faculty and staff can excel."
Republican Gov. Bob Riley "supports Rep. Bridges 100 percent," Riley press secretary Todd Stacy told The Tuscaloosa News.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James has also endorsed Bridges’ bill. Bridges said what the UA campuses are doing amounts to "tacit recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions."
State Rep. Patricia Todd, who described herself as Alabama’s "first openly gay legislator," said many companies and universities are offering domestic partner benefits because they are expected by many top wage-earners.
"They’re only going to go someplace that has that kind of benefit," Todd, D-Birmingham, told The Birmingham News.
According to the nonprofit organization Human Rights Campaign (HRC), 74 of the 130 universities on the U.S. News & World Report list of top schools offer domestic partner benefits.
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