Feds axe healthcare for spouse again
CBSNews. com reports the U.S. Office of Personnel Management still refuses to authorize healthcare for the same-sex spouse of a federal court employee, even though a judge has ordered the agency to do so.
Elaine Kaplan, OPM general counsel, said in a statement Dec. 18 that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act supersedes the recent ruling by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski.
The dispute involves Karen Golinski, a staff lawyer at the 9th Circuit’s San Francisco headquarters. Kozinski ruled earlier this year and again last month that Golinski is entitled to enroll her wife in her employer-sponsored health plan.
Because the judge was acting in an administrative role as an employer instead of in a court case, his order “does not supersede our obligation to comply with existing law,” Kaplan said.
$9.6M spent on Maine marriage vote
365gay.com reports that the two sides in the ballot fight that overturned Maine’s gay-marriage law spent $9.6 million.
Opponents of the gay-marriage law spent $3.8 million, less than the $5.8 million spent by those supporting the law. Maine’s total population is around 1.3 million.
The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices said the amount of spending on the gay-marriage vote is believed to be second only to a campaign in 2003 on a proposed tribal casino.
Hospital to change antigay visitation policy
Advocate.com reports a Fresno, Calif., hospital has agreed to revise its visitation policy after hospital staff refused to allow a woman to see her female partner.
Teresa Rowe, a Bay Area resident, was barred for several hours from visiting her partner, Kristin Orbin, in Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Center. Orbin had suffered an epileptic seizure following a 14-mile walk as part of a marriage-equality rally.
According to Rowe, hospital staff ignored her requests to speak with doctors about her partner’s medical history.
The hospital agreed to change its visitation policy regarding LGBT patients and their families following a letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
— Larry Nichols