Subject: City Benefits for Portland's Gay, Unmarried Couples

From: Mills Mike <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 13:45:39 -0700

PORTLAND, Ore (Reuter)  - Portland's city council made city
health benefits available to gay and other unmarried couples
Wednesday when they erased legal marriage as a requirement.
         The council voted unanimously in favor of extending health
insurance coverage to the partners of gay and other unmarried
city employees.
         To qualify, a person will have to sign an affidavit stating
that he or she has been in a domestic partnership for at least
one year.
         ``We have broadened the definition of family,'' declared
Portland City Commissioner Mike Lindberg after the vote. ``This
is actually pro-family. We should be doing everything we can to
support families and keep them together.''
         The action drew fire from conservative citizens groups.
         ``This is a policy from the political left to put the stamp
of approval on the homosexual lifestyle,'' said Bill Casey, a
spokesman for the Traditional Values Coalition.
         The action also contrasted with moves over the past 18
months in more than 20 rural Oregon communities and counties to
adopt ordinances that prohibit the recognition of gay rights,
including extending city benefits to gay couples.
         The Oregon Citizens Alliance sponsored the ordinances after
voters in November 1992 rejected a statewide ballot initiative
that would have prohibited recognition of gay rights. The
initiative failed mostly in urban counties.
         Since that election, the alliance has targeted rural
communities where the initiative received majority support and
succeeded in placing a similar measure on local election
ballots.
         The Oregon Legislature last year passed a law which sought
to void the local ordinances, but the alliance challenged the
new law in court and an appeal is pending.
         The new Portland ordinance had the backing of unions
representing city employees. It was included in two new labor
contracts and is expected to be included in agreements covering
five other unions.
         The $224,000 annual cost will be offset by reductions in
health benefits and increases in the amount employees must pay
for doctors' office visits.