Court OKs Philadelphia Gay Partner Benefits

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/12/120704philRts.htm

In a victory for gay couples, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled Monday that Philadelphia has a right to give city employees in same-sex "life partnerships" the same type of worker benefits now enjoyed only by married couples.

The justices overturned a lower court, which ruled two years ago that city lawmakers had overstepped their authority and created "a new marital status" by recognizing same-sex relationships. Only the state, that court said, had a right to regulate marriage.

Writing for the high court, Justice Russell M. Nigro said Philadelphia hadn't created a new type of marriage at all, or trampled on state sovereignty, when it decided in 1998 to let the long-term romantic partners of gay and lesbian city employees participate in city health and benefits plans.

[Zep]

1. This is how it will happen ...

... one little victory at a time.

[renaissanceguy]

2. I think this is the safer way

of going about it. Don't get me wrong, we DESERVE equality NOW. But, we have to be smart, too. There are too many Repugs out there in Congress wanting to do away with us altogether. If we want our rights to stick, we have to go about it slowly, albeit all over the country. Soon, people will realize that we are not a threat, and our support will outnumber the rightwingers.

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[Zep]

3. Note that I said "will" not "should" ...

... There will be no one big triumphal moment. No date we will ever be able to point to and say that *this* is when we became equal, and celebrate it as a holiday.

But we WILL be equal. Slowly but surely it is going our way.

It is war hysteria, not "Jesusland", that put Bush over the top. People who voted for Gore and Clinton who were stampeded to Bush by the war hysteria.

We can get them back without too much trouble if we are not damn fools about writing them off.

How many evangelicals voted for Carter, who was one himself?

Or Clinton?

Think about it before writing off the "red states".

I'm sure many of you from those states have stories of being opressed.

I have stories like that from New York City! But I'm 48. Most here are younger.

Things are going our way. Really. But do not relax vigilance.

Press forward, and don't take the loss of one election as the end of the world!