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Kentucky May
Block Partner Benefits for State Employees

Kentucky May
Block Partner Benefits for State Employees

Kentucky's state senate passed a bill 30-5 on Wednesday that would bar state agencies, including its eight public universities, from granting LGBT employees benefits for their partners.

Kentucky's state senate passed a bill 30-5 on Wednesday that would bar state agencies, including its eight public universities, from granting LGBT employees benefits for their partners.

The bill's opponents were Democrats from Louisville, Lexington, and Winchester, according to The [Louisville] Courier Journal.

"The only thing that drives this measure is a gay-bashing effort," said openly gay senator Ernesto Scorsone, who was one of the five opponents.

Bill supporters said that offering domestic partner benefits would violate the state constitution which was amended to ban gay marriage in 2004. University presidents, however, have opposed the bill, because they say it hurts recruitment efforts for researchers and professors.

According to the article, trustees from the University of Louisville voted to be the first in the state to extend health insurance benefits to unmarried domestic partners. In 1997 the university set out to become a top metropolitan research university. Spokesman John Drees said that the bill would make reaching that goal difficult.

"If you want to compete with the best universities and the best corporations, you need to be able to offer the same types of benefits they offer," he said in the article.

The University of Kentucky soon followed suit, while Eastern Kentucky University is currently evaluating whether to offer benefits.

House health and welfare committee chairman Tom Burch has threatened to stall the amendment, which he opposes, when it reaches his committee. (The Advocate)

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