An Alaska
Republican lawmaker said that he plans to draft a
constitutional amendment to counter last week's Alaska
supreme court decision to grant public employee
benefits to gay couples. State senator Fred Dyson said
the legislation would exempt the state from having to
extend the rights and benefits currently given to married
couples to "any other union, partnership, or legal
status."
He cited a 1998
state consitutional amendment approved by Alaska voters
that defines marriage as the union of a man and a
woman. Allison Mendel, the lawyer who represented the
nine gay couples before the high court, said the issue
has nothing to do with defining marriage. "All this is
about is equal pay for equal work. It's not about all these
philosophical and moral issues that they seem to imply," she
said.
Gov. Frank
Murkowski, a Republican, plans to bring a
constitutional amendment bill to the legislature next
session, and Dyson said he will coordinate his efforts
with the governor. If lawmakers in both houses approve
a bill, any change to the constitution would also have to be
approved by voters.
The state supreme
court unanimously ruled Friday that denying same-sex
couples the same public employee benefits as married
couples--life and health insurance, plus
retirement and death benefits--violates the Alaska
constitution's equal-protection clause. (AP)