|
« AAUP Homepage
|
Michigan Court Rules against Domestic-Partner Benefits
By Gwendolyn Bradley
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in May that public employers, including colleges and universities, are prohibited from providing domestic-partner health-insurance benefits. The ruling came in a case where the court was asked to interpret an amendment to the Michigan state constitution that says that “one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.” (See “Michigan Domestic-Partner Benefits Denied” in the March–April 2007 issue of Academe.)
The national AAUP and the AAUP’s Michigan conference had jointly filed an amicus brief with the court arguing that the amendment did not prohibit state universities from providing benefits to the children and domestic partners of gay faculty members and other university staff. (The brief in the case, National Pride at Work Inc. v. Granholm, is available under the heading “Discrimination” on the AAUP Web site.)
|