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              NY GAY TEACHERS WIN RIGHTS TO BENEFITS
           Ruling backs coverage for domestic partners

                       By Shelley Ettinger
                             New York

Lesbian and gay workers won an historic victory May 13. A New
York State appeals court unanimously ruled that gay teachers have
legal standing to win a discrimination lawsuit against the city
of New York.

Paula Ettelbrick, legal director for Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund, which brought the case, called the ruling "an
incredible national victory." If the next step results in another
favorable ruling--and there is cautious optimism that it may--it
will represent a watershed in the national fight for lesbian and
gay workers' rights.

The suit charges the city with violating its own
anti-discrimination statutes. The city refuses to grant health
benefit coverage for gay teachers' lovers equal to that accorded
heterosexual teachers' spouses.

The ruling by a five-judge panel upheld an August 1991 decision
rejecting the city's petition to dismiss the case. Referring to
several recent precedents recognizing lesbian and gay families in
housing law, the judges used unusually strong language to assert
that employment discrimination against such families is also
illegal.

That leaves the Board of Education in what observers called an
untenable legal position--trying to prove it is not
discriminating against gay teachers and their families. In fact,
lesbian and gay employees of the Board of Education who do the
same work as heterosexual married workers are blocked access to
family benefits, and thus receive unequal remuneration.

Law written in the streets

The May 13 decision came four years after three gay teachers
filed suit claiming discrimination. Two each have been in a
relationship with a lover for more than 20 years; the third wants
health coverage for both her lover and their child.

The Gay Teachers Association has made the case the centerpiece of
its battle for lesbian and gay teachers' rights in the face of
often strident bigotry. Throughout the country, including New
York, right-wing and religious zealots terrorize gay teachers.
Most are driven deep into the closet.

That's another reason this case is so important. Lesbian and gay
activists say the three teachers who filed suit have displayed
real courage by stepping forward and taking on this fight.

The United Federation of Teachers, the biggest local teachers'
union in the country, is on record supporting the struggle
against anti-gay discrimination.

With the May 13 ruling, the way is clear for a court battle that
directly takes on the issue of domestic partner rights. Lesbian
and gay workers, who are legally barred from marriage, have
increasingly demanded such rights. The demand has become a
central focus of the lesbian and gay and AIDS activist movements.

These movements, which have taken to the streets time after time
in angry protests, provide the context for the New York court
case. At the same time, lesbian and gay union caucuses across the
country are pushing for domestic partner rights. Several major
employers--including Levi Strauss and, just last week,
entertainment industry giant MCA--have acceded to the demand.

But New York City continues to insist on its legal right to
discriminate. The Board of Education immediately appealed the
latest ruling. Yet the courts and politicians must recognize that
an angry, mobilized lesbian and gay community could force a new
reading of the law in another venue--the venue where real change
is always wrought, in the streets.

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010. Phone (212) 206-8222.On New York
Transfer or PeaceNet, write "workers".)

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