New Hampshire
judge rules state must give DP benefits to gay workers

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)