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U of
Louisville Becomes First
Kentucky
Public University
To Offer
Partner Benefits
by
365Gay.com, July 14, 2006
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Louisville, Kentucky -- The
domestic partners of same and opposite-sex employees of the University of
Louisville will be eligible for health insurance under a plan passed by the
school's board of trustees.
The university has more than 4,800 employees. How many of them would be
affected was not readily known.
It was approved by a 14 - 1 vote, making the university the first in the state
to offer such benefits.
Trustees said following the vote that the decision was not about endorsing gay
rights but making the university competitive.
“From an economic development position this does send to the rest of the country
that this is an enlightened institution,” trustee Bill Stone told the AP.
“This is not an endorsement of gay marriage or any of the other lightning
issues.”
Nationwide more than 250 colleges and universities already offer domestic
partner health benefits.
LGBT civil rights predicted that the decision could have a ripple affect at
other schools in the state.
The University of Kentucky has been considering adopting a similar plan for at
least five years.
But at least one GOP lawmaker is threatening to block the benefits plan.
State Sen. Richard Roeding (R-Lakeside Park) said he is considering a bill that
would prevent public institutions from offering benefits to unmarried couples --
especially same-sex couples.
“I don’t want to entice any of those people into our state," said Roeding.
"Those are the wrong kind of people.”
Roeding and other Republicans passed legislation earlier this year giving $11
million grant to the University of the Cumberlands, a small Baptist college, for
a pharmacy school.
The legislation was signed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher even though it may violate
Kentucky law because the college bars the admission of LGBT students.
The Kentucky Fairness Alliance filed suit against Fletcher in Franklin Circuit
Court. Court papers say the grant is an "unconstitutional appropriation
and use of public funds [for] a sectarian and denominational school that treats
Kentucky citizens unequally."
Jason Johnson, 20, was expelled April 6 after posting his sexual orientation on
a Web site. The dean's list student received all Fs on his transcript when
he was expelled.
Following public outrage the university agreed to allow Johnson to send in work
to finish his courses and receive final grades. But he remained barred
from the campus.
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