April 26, 2003

KC begins work on domestic partner benefits

I'm feeling just a little bit proud of Kansas City at the moment. This isn't exactly a bastion of liberal values here (though KC's not nearly as conservative as one might expect for a city in the middle of the Bible Belt), but the city council is now working on extending benefits to the gay, lesbian and unmarried partners of city employees. Not only that, but they're also looking at creating a domestic partner registration, which would give unmarried (gay or straight) couples the ability to legally declare their relationship and obtain at least some of the rights afforded married couples, including the right to make medical decisions on behalf of their partner in the case of an emergency.

KC may be a bit slower in coming to the table on something like this than other cities have been, but it's a pretty big step for this area, and one I'm very glad to see being taken. Hopefully, some of the suburban areas nearby will follow suit.

Posted by thorswitch at April 26, 2003 01:43 PM | TrackBack


Comments

That is really a great development, and pretty surprising for me. Good to hear that Kansas is not the bastion of bigotry I was mislead to believe.

Posted by: Jan Haugland at April 26, 2003 01:49 PM

Jan, Kansas City is in Missouri. Yes there is a smaller city called Kansas City in Kansas, as well as some suburbs, but this proposed was in Kansas City, Missouri.

KC in the middle of the bible belt? That's certainly one I have never heard before. Kansas City is heavily Democratic, even if Missouri Democrats are usually very modrate. Maybe you are confusing KC with some of its Kansas suburbs, which are psycho-conservative. I always thought the bible belt was a few hundred miles further south. I would say Tulsa, Springfield MO, or Nashville would be the middle of the bible belt, certainly not Kansas City.

Anyway, yes it is good to see KCMO heading in this direction. I doubt any of the surbubs will follow any time soom. Heavily Democratic Jackson County recently abandonded consideration of same thing. Wyandotte and Clay are the other two Democratic counties in the metro - Wyco has more important practical matters to deal with and Clayco is increasingly less liberal as the Northland suburbanizes.

Posted by: eric at May 3, 2003 10:08 PM

It may be because I live in one of the more psycho-conservative counties that I tend to think of KC as being in the Bible Belt. After living in Seattle for several years, coming back to this area was a bit of a shock to the system. That I'm also a liberal, Democrat and Pagan doesn't help much, either, I have a feeling.

You're right about Wyco, though, they do seem to have more than a few other problems to worry about

Posted by: kriselda jarnsaxa at May 4, 2003 07:50 PM

The e-Insure Journal has published a new article introducing a number of important concepts that govern the insurance options available to Americans living in domestic partnerships, as well as other alternative family arrangements.

While we understand that this topic contains the seeds of controversy, we also recognize that--regardless of how readers may feel about the topic--domestic partnerships as an issue are here to stay, and an employer or HR professional who ignores their implications does so at his peril.

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VP for Operations

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53 W Jackson Blvd #557
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Posted by: Jason G. Williscrofjt at July 18, 2003 11:29 AM