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发帖数: 4174 | 1 Posted on Advocate.com November 23, 2010
Columbus DP Benefits Pass Easily
By Advocate.com Editors
COLUMBUS OHIO X390 (PHOTOS.COM) | ADVOCATE.COM
Columbus, Ohio’s capital and largest city, approved domestic-partner
benefits for city employees Monday with little opposition, in sharp contrast
to the controversy that surrounded a similar move 12 years ago — even
though one resident thinks the city council is doing the devil’s work.
The council OK’d offering health insurance to the same-sex and unmarried
opposite-sex partners of city workers, effective February 1, The Columbus
Dispatch reports. The council had passed a similar measure in December 1998
but rescinded the benefits two months later after opponents gathered enough
petition signatures to put the matter to a popular vote. Council members
feared that if a vote took place and resulted in repeal of the benefits,
they could not bring up the issue again without another citywide vote.
At Monday night’s council meeting, only two citizens attended to comment on
the benefits proposal, as opposed to seven who came to accept a citation
for the championship season of the city’s minor league baseball team, the
Columbus Clippers. City health inspector Jim Hartman offered support for
domestic-partner benefits, while local resident Shirley Cotter voiced
opposition, saying the council should “make God smile, not make Satan smile
.”
The council went on to approve the benefits plan unanimously. Council member
A. Troy Miller said Cotter’s comment was the only negative one he’d heard
since the proposal was announced last week, while another member, Andrew J.
Ginther, said the council was “not only doing the right thing” but also
putting the city in a better position to compete for employees. | m******1
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