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Gays Get
New Rights Today
By
365Gay.com from the Web, January 1, 2006
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Washington -- LGBT communities
in several states gain new rights today.
In California four laws went into effect at midnight, including the nation’s
first law prohibiting discrimination against transgender individuals in health
coverage.
The Insurance Gender Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits insurance companies
and health-care service plans from discriminating on the basis of gender in the
creation or maintenance of service contracts, or the provision of benefits or
coverage.
The Civil Rights Act of 2005 also goes into effect. The law adds sexual
orientation, gender and marital status to California’s public accommodation
non-discrimination laws. Some of the businesses that are subject to the
law include shopping centers, mobile home parks, bars and restaurants, schools,
medical and dental offices, hotels and motels, and condominium homeowners'
associations.
The third piece of legislation, the Death Benefits Rights for Retired Public
Employees Act, allows domestic partners of public employees who retired prior to
Jan. 1, 2005, when California's comprehensive domestic partnership law (AB 205)
went into effect, to receive death benefits if the retiree dies before their
partner.
And the fourth law is the Property Tax Reappraisal Exclusion for Domestic
Partners. It provides that a change in the title of property between
domestic partners will be treated the same way a change in title of property
between spouses is treated for property tax purposes. As a result,
domestic partners will no longer face potentially enormous increases in their
property taxes when their partner dies.
"The rights LGBT Californians will enjoy in 2006 are stronger than they have
ever been," said Geoffrey Kors, Equality California Executive Director.
"As a result of these new laws, millions of LGBT people in California will now
have legal protections that they lacked in the past, making California stronger
as a result."
Illinois LGBT Civil Rights Law
In Illinois, a state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation
and gender identity became a reality Sunday, nearly a year after Gov. Rod
Blagojevich signed it into law and more than three decades since state lawmakers
first debated it.
Illinois joins 15 other states that have laws banning discrimination based on
sexual orientation and is one of only seven states where the law protects
transgender people.
The battle to ban sexual-orientation discrimination in Illinois began in the
mid-1970s, when the first bills were introduced into the Legislature.
Though bill after bill went by the wayside, communities across the state began
amending their own anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation.
Champaign was the first in 1977, followed by Urbana, Chicago, eight other cities
and Cook County.
Chicago-based Equality Illinois joined the fight in the early 1990s, making the
anti-discrimination amendment its top priority. It took more than a dozen
more years for the Legislature to make it happen.
"Illinois is not a trendsetter, but it's not a right-winger," said Rick Garcia,
political director for Equality Illinois.
"We're not Massachusetts or California, but we're certainly not Alabama or
Tennessee. ... Illinoisans are reasonable people. We are cautious, but we
want to do the right thing."
The law allows people to file complaints with the Illinois Department of Human
Rights if they believe they were denied a job, housing, public accommodation or
credit.
Palm Beach Gay Municipal Workers
In Palm Beach County, Florida, an ordinance that went into effect at midnight
offers the same employee benefits to its current and retired employees with
domestic partners as it offers to married employees and retirees.
The move makes the county one of only a handful of municipalities in Florida to
offer domestic partner benefits to its workers.
The ordinance provides sick leave benefits, bereavement leave, long term
disability, as well as health, dental vision, and life insurance. Dependent
children on an employee’s domestic partner would also be eligible for insurance
coverage.
Palm Beach County employs approximately 6,000 workers.
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