DP Benefits can take several forms: from limited benefits such as proposed at WVU--i.e., use of library and recreational facilities--to more extensive health insurance, tuition waiver, pension, and medical leave provisions. Various schools include various groups as qualifying, staff, faculty, and students. Schools such as Brown University, Stanford, University of Chicago, and Wesleyan University offer very complete benefits including university identification, pension plans, medical benefits, and leave policies (Williams). Private corporations such as Apple Computer and Walt Disney World have approved full benefits for their employees recently (Williams). At Emory University, as of July, 1995, same-sex domestic partnerships were recognized, regardless of marital status. They are now eligible to receive all University benefits accruing to married domestic partners ("Polices of Emory University Relevant to the LGB Community").
Opponents to such DP benefits have been very vocal and litigious. On march 3, 1995, Republican legislators in Alaska's State Legislature promoted two bills to prevent DP benefits being extended to university and state workers; they also wanted to prohibit same-sex marriage . A case also was sent to the Alaska Supreme Court contesting whether two University of Alaska Fairbanks couples should receive DP health-related benefits ("Legislature Moves to Stop DP and Marriage").
Advocates for DP Benefits have cited basic human rights as a reason for doing what is right. In a letter about equal benefits for same-gender couples to the editor of the Daily Northwestern, the Director of the Northwestern University Christian Ministry wrote: "But I have never seen a more savage nor more undeserved pain than that experienced by those human beings who happened to be gay or lesbian. . . . The university community should not be afraid for financial or political reasons to take dramatic steps forward toward equal treatment of all human beings and toward ending the unjustified suffering of those among us who happen to be gay or lesbian" (Bremer 4). In a New York Times article in 1993, reactions to New York City's official acknowledgement of domestic partnership by establishing DP benefits and an official registry, Doug Robinson said he and his partner, Michael Elsasser, fathers of two sons, registered to prove a point:
Many DP advocates are looking to the actions of the Hawaii Supreme Court and its State Legislature to add fuel to their cause. A majority of the Supreme Court in that state have ruled that the origin of one's sexual orientation is not relevant and that the state must cite "compelling reasons" to justify its refusal to issue marriage licenses to couples of the same sex ("Hawaii Supreme Court Turns Down Request to Reconsider Historic Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Stands"). If the Court ruled to honor same-sex marriages, the road would be open for other states to follow suit and for DP benefits to be legally extended.
Domestic partner benefits may take time to become a reality. College campuses--with their strong state ties--have been much slower to move than companies such as Kodak and State Farm Insurance ("State Farm Opened Door to Domestic Benefits"). DP Advocates are hoping that the vows of non-discrimination that have been extended to gays, bisexuals, and lesbians will not be broken and that domestic partners will be fully recognized on campuses as having equal rights and equal benefits, just as do heterosexual couples and families. In pointing to his state government's anti-DP stance, Joe Melillo, a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, decries: "Last time I heard, equal rights ere not for sale" ("Hawaii" n.p.).
Works Cited
"Board Suspends DP Policy." Daily Athenaeum (5 Nov. 1995). A1, A3.
Bremer, Jack. "Letter to the Editor, Daily Northwestern." Daily Northwestern (25 May1994). n.p. Online. World Wide Web. http://www.bgala.nwu.edu/dp/DPJACK.HTML. 11 Nov. 1995.
"Hawaii Supreme Court Turns Down Request to Reconsider Historic Same- Sex Marriage Ruling Stands." Online. World Wide Web. http://www.cs.cmu.edu:80/afs/cs/user/scotts/domestic-partners/hawaii-presskit.html. 12 Nov. 1995.
"Legislature Moves to Stop DP and Marriage." Online. World Wide Web. http://www.nether.net/~rod/html/sub/marriage/akmarr.html. 11 Nov. 1995.
"Policies of Emory University Relevant to the LGB Community." Online. World Wide Web. http://www.cc.emory.edu/LGBOFFICE/policies.html. 12 Nov. 1995.
Richardson, Lynda Richardson. New York Times 1 August 1993) n.p. Online. World Wide Web. http://www.cs.cmu.edu:80/afs/cs/user/scotts/domestic-partners/nyc-uses.txt. 11 Nov. 1995.
"State Farm Opened Door to Domestic Benefits." Online. World Wide Web. http://gopher://gopher.utexas.edu:3003/00/pub/lbgsa/queersteers/sfarm01. 11 Nov. 1995.
Williams, Duane Thomas. "Companies, Municipalities and Universities with Domestic Partnership Plans." (7 Oct 1995). Online. World Wide Web. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/dtw/www/companies.html. 11 Nov. 1995.