News
2006-02-01
New Jersey city
employee brings gay rights to her town
A well-liked city
employee has effectively changed the domestic-partner
policy of her suddenly progressive hometown.
With patience and
gumption, a well-liked New Jersey city employee has
effectively changed the domestic-partner policy of her
suddenly progressive hometown.
Donna Domico has lived in the south Jersey
hamlet of Westville (pop. 4,500) for all of her 43
years. Currently the superintendent of public works,
Domico raised eyebrows when she asked Westville to provide
benefits to her female partner, Jen Clarke, last year. A
2004 New Jersey law allows local governments to
provide the same benefits to employees' domestic
partners as they do to spouses, but it’s up to the
municipality to actually make the final decision.
After Domico and Clarke registered as domestic
partners in January 2005, Domico officially requested
that her benefits be extended to Clarke.
“Legally, if something were to happen to me, what
would happen to Jen?” Domico said to The
Philadelphia Inquirer.
The couple’s request was greeted with a
letter from the borough of Westville saying that
providing benefits to Clarke was currently impossible.
While the borough council began discussing the issue at that
point, it wasn’t until August that the measure
passed, making Westville the first municipality in
south Jersey to provide domestic-partner benefits to
government employees. Borough officials said the extra time
was needed to fully understand the measure and the changes
that would come about from enacting it.
“It was the right thing to do,”
borough mayor Bill Packer told
the Inquirer. “We’ve been very
lucky to have [Domico],” he said.
Westville’s actions may seem ahead of
their time in south Jersey, but Packer had an easy
explanation for the Inquirer. "I never heard anyone
say, 'We want to blaze a trail.’ We just wanted
to be fair to our employee." (Advocate.com)
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