Gay state workers in Michigan lose DP benefits

Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm will remove domestic-partner benefits from contracts negotiated with state workers, said an aide, citing a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution that bans same-sex marriage "and similar unions." Michigan voters approved the amendment November 2. On Wednesday, Granholm aide David Fink said that negotiated contracts scheduled for adoption by the state Civil Service Commission on December 15 will be stripped of the domestic-partner benefits for same-sex partners of state workers. Fink said the Granholm administration decided to eliminate the benefits because of the passage of Proposal 2, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman and bans same-sex marriage and "similar unions for any purpose."