Trustees for Palm
Beach Community College decided to grant LGBT and
unmarried employees partner benefits after a 3-2 vote on
Tuesday. The board, after a year of delays, voted to
offer health insurance to partners of college
employees, according to the Palm Beach Human Rights
Council.
The Florida
Community Colleges Risk Management Consortium, which
provides health insurance to 22 Florida colleges
including PBCC, requested the college extend benefits
to employees' partners. The council said in a
statement that they have been urging the trustees to vote on
partner benefits since 2005.
"Until this
evening, each time the trustees were poised to
provide equal access to family benefits, trustees
Williams and Kirby prevented that from
happening," wrote Rand Hoch, executive director of the
Palm Beach HRC. "Today, they finally ran out of ways
to delay and deny."
The state of
Florida currently does not grant domestic-partner benefits
to state employees. The state is scheduled to vote on a
same-sex marriage ban in November. (The
Advocate)
