What they didn't
know before moving to Idaho could fill a house, and in
many ways it does.
The kitchen table
holds stacks of legal papers. Medication bottles litter
a nearby countertop. The two-story home Robert Ryan, 42,
shares with his partner, Ralph Martinelli, 53,
overlooks the quaint suburb of Eagle, west of
Boise, a rural landscape of ruddy hills that doesn't
seem quite as welcoming as it once did.
A 2,400-mile move
west that once seemed like a chance at a fresh
start has instead delivered some hard lessons,
especially about moving from a state that recognizes
same-sex unions to one of the 21 states that don't.
The couple was
stunned when Ryan was dropped from the company insurance
plan the two shared in New Jersey, where they were able to
register as domestic partners. Idaho does not formally
recognize same-sex couples.
''It didn't even
dawn on us that this would have an impact,'' Ryan said.
Ryan and
Martinelli met four years ago when Ryan was out of work and
battling depression he developed after surviving the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
Ryan worked on the 74th floor of the south tower and
escaped after the north tower was struck first. Six of
the 20 employees he managed at Morgan Stanley were killed.
A year after they
started dating, they registered as domestic partners in
New Jersey. Martinelli was told he could insure Ryan under
his policy as a Konica Minolta Business Solutions
sales manager.
Ryan used the
policy to pay for medication to treat his depression,
anxiety, and the childhood asthma that resurfaced from
severe smoke inhalation in the attack.
But he was
dropped from the policy last October, shortly after the
Konica Minolta company found the couple had moved to
Idaho, where they couldn't register as domestic
partners. In 2006, 63% of Idaho voters approved a
constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of
of a man and a woman, effectively outlawing same-sex
unions.
Martinelli is
still covered by a COBRA policy through the company. Ryan
now pays $650 a month for a separate COBRA insurance policy
that will expire in March 2009.
''It's
ridiculous,'' Ryan said. ''It'd be like a married couple
being forced to get remarried every time they moved.''
The couple is
getting help from the American Civil Liberties Union, which
is one of several groups that considers their case rare when
compared to same-sex discrimination lawsuits across
the country.
''I'm not sure
there's been anything like this,'' said Tara Borelli, a
staff attorney for the gay civil rights group Lambda Legal.
Nearly half, or
47%, of private insurance firms in the United States
offer benefits to unmarried domestic partners, and 37% of
those offer benefits to same-sex partners, according
to a 2007 Kaiser Family Foundation study.
The national arm
of the ACLU sent letters to Konica Minolta requesting
Ryan be reinstated to the policy.
''We've been
wrestling with Konica Minolta for months hoping that we
could simply persuade them quietly to do the right thing,''
said Jack Van Valkenburgh, executive director of the
ACLU of Idaho. ''They've made their decision.''
In a letter dated
October 2, 2007, the company confirmed Ryan's coverage
would be terminated. Donald Warwick, vice president of human
resources for Konica Minolta, declined to comment when
contacted by the Associated Press.
The ACLU has not
ruled out legal action against the company, Van
Valkenburgh said.
A number of
private insurance companies cover same-sex partners in
Idaho, said Rep. Nicole LeFavour, a Boise Democrat,
who is the state's only openly gay legislator and is
covered by a Wells Fargo insurance policy with her
partner of eight years.
LeFavour said she
called Konica Minolta on behalf of the couple and the
company cited the constitutional amendment.
''There wasn't
anything we could do,'' LeFavour said. ''Idaho law just
doesn't have anything to help them right now.''
The Idaho
Department of Insurance does not track how many firms offer
domestic partner benefits, either to opposite or same-sex
partners, said spokeswoman Tricia Carney. But she says
such benefits are allowed.
''It's legal in
the state,'' Carney said. ''But we don't keep track of
which companies offer it.''
Bryan Fischer,
executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, helped
draft the Idaho amendment that bans same-sex marriage. He
used the legislation to threaten legal action against
the Moscow city council in northern Idaho after the
council approved domestic benefits for city employees
in December.
The amendment was
meant to protect the institution of marriage, not
restrict companies that already cover same-sex couples,
Fischer said.
''There are
companies in Idaho who have been doing this for years,''
Fischer said. ''That's between them and their employees.''
Martinelli still
works for Konica Minolta and said he doesn't plan to
move.
''We fell in love
with the area, we love Idaho,'' Martinelli said. ''But
here it is 2008, and people are still being discriminated
against.'' (Jessie Bonner, AP)
