City covers DOMA tax
The Boston Herald reports that Cambridge, Mass. , will pay quarterly stipends to its 22 employees with same-sex spouses to cover a federal tax on health insurance that their straight married colleagues do not have to pay beginning this month.
Under the Defense of Marriage Act, even legally married same-sex couples cannot receive federal benefits. The city employees hit by the extra tax pay an additional $1,500-$3,000 each year, and city officials estimate the measure, approved last month, will cost the city $33,000.
The part of DOMA that denies federal benefits for married gay couples was ruled unconstitutional in Massachusetts by a U.S. district judge in Boston last year. The decision is being appealed.
Maine Denny’s to respect trans customers
The Sun Journal reports that Denny’s restaurants in Maine now permit customers to use restrooms consistent with their gender identities. The change in policy was inspired by a suit against the chain’s Auburn location, which denied a transgender woman access to the women’s bathroom in 2007 after another customer’s complaint.
The suit was settled in March and announced July 11 by Realty Resources Hospitality, which owns six Denny’s restaurants in Maine, and the Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders Transgender Rights Project, which represented plaintiff Brianna Freeman.
Since the agreement was reached in March, Freeman has been using the women’s restroom at the Auburn restaurant and has not reported any difficulties.
Catholic Charities sues over adoption
Advocate.com reports that Catholic Charities of Illinois sought a court injunction July 12 against state officials who have declined to renew adoption contracts with dioceses that desire religious exemption from the state’s new civil-union law.
Three dioceses sued last month for exemption from the law in their state-funded adoption and foster-care contracts, while a fourth has indicated it does not want to place children with gay parents. A fifth ended its public-adoption and foster-care services all together.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services sent letters last week to the concerned Catholic Charities affiliates saying the state could not accept the contracts for the fiscal year that began July 1 because state contractors cannot discriminate against couples in civil unions.
New MD marriage push
The Washington Blade reports a coalition of organizations started a new campaign to win marriage equality in Maryland July 12.
The list of groups involved in the effort includes Equality Maryland, Progressive Maryland, the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry, Service Employees International Union and others.
A marriage-equality bill failed in the House in March after passing the Senate.
The new coalition aims to pass marriage equality in the 2012 Maryland legislative session, which begins in January. Gov. Martin O’Malley has pledged to sign such legislation.
— compiled by Chandlee Taylor