Justifying Monroe County's plan to appeal the Martinez decision, whereby New York state recognizes same-sex marriages performed outside the state, County Executive Maggie Brooks said, "We must appeal this decision in order to protect Monroe County taxpayers. We cannot simply extend benefits to unmarried couples ..." However, Monroe County gay and lesbian residents also pay taxes. And it is simple equity that gay and lesbian county employees get the same benefits for their families as those extended to their heterosexual co-workers, especially given the state law against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Rochester-Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride at Work educates legislators and unions about the need for domestic-partner or same-sex spousal benefits including health insurance, family and bereavement leave and survivor pension rights. Employees in committed same-sex relationships face benefit discrimination regularly. While heterosexual married co-workers get sick time or bereavement leave, many gay employees have to request "vacation" time for such purposes.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that offering benefits for same-sex domestic partners of federal employees would increase the cost of those programs by less than one-half of 1 percent. Eastman Kodak Co., the University of Rochester and the town of Brighton provide these benefits, seeing them as good for employers and workers. Monroe County, by contrast, denies worker equity, fostering disrespect for those deemed "second-class" employees with "insignificant" families.
Today's thriving economies correlate to an area's ability to attract talented innovators. These "creative class" people value multiculturalism and see inclusion of gay people, in particular, as an index of their own compatibility to an area. Monroe County, struggling with job losses and "brain drain," has put another nail in the area's economic coffin. While county leadership persists in myopic provincialism, the region will continue its decline. Don't marginalize good employees; embrace them equally. Doing so benefits everyone.
Watts, of Gates, is president, Rochester Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride at Work.