Salt Lake County Council votes to give domestic partner benefits to its county employees
February 18, 2009
From Terry McGuire, HRC's Western regional field organizer:
I’m still here in New Mexico working on the Domestic Partnership bill, but I wanted to pass along some great news from Todd Hess, one of our Salt Lake City Political Co-Chairs. The Salt Lake County Council voted 6-3 Tuesday to allow unmarried county employees, LGBT or straight, to enter into a legally recognized relationship that would extend many critical rights and protections! One Republican, Max Burdick, broke ranks and joined five Democrats to support this progressive and long overdue legislation. (This is an even sweeter victory considering that the Salt Lake County Council voted to grant additional rights that will benefit LGBT families just days after a right-wing group ran a full-page fear-mongering and disgustingly anti-gay ad in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News attacking Equality Utah's Common Initiative.) Salt Lake County joins Salt Lake City in offering protections to its employees such as medical and dental coverage, shared health and life insurance benefits, and a variety of other protections that so many couples desperately need. No one deserves to suffer in their darkest hours because our governments refuse to offer common sense protections. This legislation is a definite step in the right direction. Congrats to our local steering committee and to Equality Utah for all of their hard work!
