GOP Governor: Benefits For Same-Sex Domestic Partners Are ‘Irrational And Unfair’

var addthis_config = {“data_track_addressbar”:true};Asks Court To Force Same-Sex Couples To Keep Subsidizing Married Opposite-Sex Couples

A Republican governor is asking a federal court to allow the state of Michigan to continue to force gay and lesbian state and local workers to continue to subsidize the benefits of their married heterosexual coworkers by denying equal benefits to domestic partners of same-sex couples. Governor Rick Snyder told the court that the state of Michigan just can’t afford to provide benefits to domestic partners. He called such benefits “irrational and unfair” and told the court that denying equal benefits promotes “financially sound” government.

At issue is a 2011 law, the Public Employee Domestic Partner Benefit Restriction Act, also known as Public Act 297, that bans the state of Michigan from granting benefits to unmarried partners. Same-sex couples are prohibited from marrying under Michigan law.

Gov. Snyder signed the bill into law during his first year in office. MoveOn.org called the legislation “economically myopic,” and “an unconscionable attack on the rights of Michigan’s gay and lesbian citizens.”

Five same-sex couples are suing Michigan for benefits. In June of last year, Judge David Lawson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan “issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state from enforcing the law, Public Act 297, saying the plaintiffs in the case had a good chance of proving at trial that the law violates the equal protection guarantee of the U.S. Constitution,” MLive reports.

“The plaintiffs fortify their position with statements from the sponsors of the legislation suggesting that Public Act 297 targets same-sex partners and was motivated by animus,” Lawson wrote in his order granting the injunction, which did not require public employers to offer the benefits if they were not previously.

Lawson’s order appeared to conclude the fiscal responsibility argument was a non-starter as a defense against the equal protection claim.

Judge Lawson, who last year cited the Supreme Court’s DOMA decision, added that the “only policy issue that the defendant has identified is the desire to save money. But a desire to save money cannot possibly be sufficiently important to require the court to abstain from deciding the constitutional issues raised by the plaintiffs. If it were, states could effectively insulate themselves from constitutional review by the federal courts of virtually any law by citing budgetary concerns.”

Last year, Governor Snyder responded to a lawsuit by a lesbian couple who are challenging Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage so they can both adopt the three children they are raising together. His defense? They are not a family.

Governor Snyder is running for e-election this year, on a platform of balancing the budget. Apparently, in part, on the backs of gay state workers.

Images via Gov. Snyder’s Facebook page

Previously:

Women In Michigan Will Now Have To Decide If They Might Be Raped When Buying Health Insurance

Michigan GOP Official Promotes And Defends ‘Filthy Homosexuals’ Article

Mother’s Day On Our Radar – Lesbian Supermoms Take On Family Equality