Gay Benefits OK'd in Michigan

LANSING, MI -- The 2004 voter-approved amendment to Michigan's Constitution defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman does not prohibit state and local governments, universities and schools from providing health care and other benefits to the gay and lesbian partners of employees.

This was the conclusion in a ruling by Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk yesterday.

Earlier this year, Republican Attorney General Mike Cox issued a legal opinion saying that it would be against the constitution of Michigan for the city of Kalamazoo to provide benefits to gay partners. A number of gay couples who work for Kalamazoo, universities and the state filed a lawsuit challenging Cox's interpretation.

In Tuesday's ruling, Judge Joyce Draganchuk said health care benefits are benefits of employment, not marriage and that the purpose of the amendment was to ban gay marriage, not to deny benefits to gay employees.

"Today's ruling affirms what we've believed all along - Michigan voters never intended to take health insurance away from families," said Deborah LaBelle, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.