A New Hampshire
judge ruled Friday that the state must offer
domestic-partnership benefits to gay government workers.
Merrimack County superior court judge Kathleen McGuire
said the state cannot deny family health care benefits
and bereavement leave to two lesbian employees.
The state had argued that denying the women
benefits was not discriminatory because the benefits
are also denied to unmarried heterosexuals. McGuire
dismissed that argument.
In New Hampshire heterosexuals may marry, while
gay people may not. McGuire wrote, "The state's
attempt to couch the issue as one wherein all
unmarried individuals are impacted equally avoids reality."
State attorney general Kelly Ayotte plans an
appeal to the state supreme court. New Hampshire
governor John Lynch says he supports giving benefits
to gay and lesbian families but will not interfere with the
appeal. The president of the state employees union
also applauded the ruling.
The ruling was the result of two separate
complaints filed with the state's Human Rights
Commission in 2002. Patricia Bedford and Anne Breen
both work for the state's technical college, and each
is raising a child with a lesbian partner.
The Human Rights Commission ruled against them,
but McGuire's decision overturns that ruling.
(Sirius OutQ News)
