Philadelphia City Councilman-at-Large Jim Kenney announced this week he will introduce legislation to streamline the city’s domestic-partner application process for legally married same-sex couples.
Kenney plans to submit the bill by the end of this month.
Currently, same-sex couples looking to register as domestic partners with the city must submit a wealth of evidentiary documents, such as joint bank statements, proof of joint home ownership or leases or life-insurance beneficiary statements.
Kenney’s measure would allow same-sex married couples to use their marriage license instead of those materials.
He said he conceived of the legislation after an LGBT city employee was faced with compiling evidence of a relationship despite having a legal marriage license issued in New York.
“We recognize marriage licenses from other states for different-sex couples so why not also recognize them for same-sex couples?” Kenney posed.
The domestic-partner registry can be utilized by city residents to serve as proof of relationship for insurance or other reasons. City employees who register are eligible to add their domestic partner onto their city health-insurance plan.
“We’ll accept marriage licenses for benefits for different-sex couples who got married in New Jersey, so we should also accept a license from New York or Massachusetts from same-sex couples,” Kenney said.
Kenney said his office is continuing its research process into what city laws would need to be amended to allow for the change.
He noted that the domestic-partner law was passed in 1998 with ample support, and he anticipates equal backing from his fellow councilmembers when the measure is introduced this fall.
“We passed that with just a few dissenting opinions and I think we’ve come much further on this issue in the past few years,” he said. “So I’m hoping for full support.”
Kenney is also calling for the city to explore the positive impact of pro-LGBT workplace policies.
He introduced a resolution Thursday that would allow for public hearings to examine the ramifications, specifically in terms of economic boosts, of LGBT-inclusive employment nondiscrimination policies and other measures such as inclusive benefits plans.
“A number of leading corporations have focused on improving the workplace environment for LGBT employees, not only because it’s morally imperative, but also because it attracts a high-caliber workforce, improves employee-retention rates, fosters ideas and innovation, satisfies eligibility for some public-sector contracts and improves employee relations and morale,” Kenney said.
Philadelphia incorporated sexual orientation into its nondiscrimination law in 1982 and gender identity 20 years later.
The state, however, has yet to move forward an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination measure.
Kenney noted that a 2011 Williams Institute study found that more than 90 percent of the nation’s largest companies have agreed that “diversity policies and generous benefits packages are good for their corporate bottom line.”
Kenney added that anti-LGBT positions can have a detrimental impact on a company. For instance, he said that, following Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s statements opposing LGBT rights, the company took a nearly 20-point hit in popularity, according to YouGov Brand Index.
All 27 Pennsylvania-based Fortune 500 companies have nondiscrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation, though not all cover gender identity.
More than two-dozen Pennsylvania municipalities offer LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policies, but most of the state remains unprotected.