NGLTF and
Bloomberg make up

One year after angrily resigning from New York City's Human Rights Commission, the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has apparently patched up his differences with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. One year ago, after the Bloomberg administration filed a legal challenge to an equal benefits bill passed by the city council, Task Force director Matt Foreman angrily resigned his seat on the Human Rights Commission. The law would have required city contractors to offer the same benefits to employees' domestic partners as to other employees' spouses. Since then Bloomberg has succeeded in using his bully pulpit and political pressure to convince major insurers to voluntarily offer domestic-partner benefits to small businesses in the city. The coverage is already available to large corporations. Bloomberg called Foreman to talk about that initiative, and Foreman said he'd be happy to return to the Human Rights Commission. The suit over the council's equal benefits bill is still in the courts. Foreman told the New York Post that the mayor's initiative "is not a substitute [for the benefits bill,] but it is a significant move forward." Foreman said he hoped the benefits bill would be reinstated by the appeals court. (Tim Curran, Sirius OutQ)