Newspaper Page Text
More than 75 percent of UGA's peer and aspirational institu
tions offer full benefits to domestic partners, including several
in states with same-sex marriage bans like Georgia's. Public
universities in Wyoming, Florida, Kentucky, Arizona and most
recently Missouri have circumvented state legislation to offer
privately-funded equal benefits without using state money.
"Meanwhile, our institutional reputation will continue to be
of having a lack of commitment to diversity and equity," Frick
said. "We're in a very small minority of top universities that
don't have these benefits. And we'll continue to stick out more
and more as a place that people won't want to come work."
Kane cited one part of the Foundation's mission and purpose
statement—"fiduciary care for the assets of the Foundation for
the long-term benefit and enhancement of the University"—as
her reason for hoping it would fund the benefits.
“I believe in my heart we will have
marriage equality in the state of
Georgia.”
"In my interpretation of that, that would include quality of
life for faculty and staff and issues of retention and equity,"
she says. "They're clearly not interpreting it that way. So that
was disappointing."
Now, invigorated by their DOMA win, activists will turn their
attention to other tasks, such as convincing state legislators
to ban workplace discrimination based on sexuality and con
tinuing to push for domestic partner benefits.
There are other options, Kane said. The foundation isn't the
only possible source of funding. It was just the one that made
sense.
"This is far from over, because the university has not
exhausted all the possible avenues for finding the money for
this program," said Roberts, a former GLOBES chairwoman.
"There are just too many avenues where the money could come
from for them to throw in the towel at this point."
For now, Kane said, GLOBES will continue working with the
University Council and the administration to seek out other
sources of funding.
"The faculty and the council and the administration seem to
be behind this, but it would be nice to see a little more public
advocacy and personal advocacy from the president's office,
from FIR," she said. "In the other university systems that we've
seen this happen at, the higher administration has provided
direction and leadership on this issue."
Now that DOMA has been struck down, equal rights advo
cates at UGA hope the school's administration will adopt a
mindset reflecting that of the nation.
"I hope that UGA administrators will align with the rest of
the country in feeling that equality and fair treatment should
be the law of the land and the law of campus," Roberts said.
In a statement, UGA spokesman Tom Jackson said the
administration is "pleased that UGA is able to provide the vol
untary benefits along the same lines as Georgia Tech, Georgia
State, and other institutions in the System" and would not
comment further. But as Frick pointed out, these soft benefits
are employee-funded and eight years late—faculty and staff
first asked for them in 2005.
That was a year after Georgia voters, by a margin of 77 per
cent to 23 percent (52-48 even in supposedly liberal Athens),
passed an amendment to the state constitution banning gay
marriage and civil unions. There was a certain amount of
schadenfreude in the air at the DOMA celebration.
"Remember how sick and frustrated you were in 2003,
2004?" DuBose asked the crowd. "How you cussed and kicked
something? Well, this (the DOMA ruling) is retribution for that.
"I think we should bring it back up for a vote," she said,
noting that the majority of Americans now accept same-sex
marriage, especially young people. "I think we can beat 'em
now."
Based on Georgia Equality's polls, Sheldon was not so sure.
"It may not surprise you we don't have as much support
here as we do when you poll all Americans," she said. "It's still
in the 30 percent (range). So the first step is education."
In the meantime, Sheldon and other experts are still try
ing to parse what the DOMA decision will mean for Georgians.
Same-sex marriages in other states still won't be recognized
here, and partners won't be eligible for federal tax breaks for
married couples or Social Security benefits because they're
under the control of states, she said. However, Sheldon, an
Army reservist, expects the military to "act really quickly" to
offer benefits like health insurance to same-sex partners, and
the Obama administration will make other federal benefits
available in the coming weeks, she said.
Blake Aued and Sarah Anne Perry
Members and supporters of Athens Pride, UGA GLOBES
and Georgia Equality pose for a group photo.
D eeDee Kane's week started off on a sour note.
The University of Georgia professor and head
of GLOBES learned Monday, June 24 that the UGA
Foundation would not fund health insurance for the domestic
partners of gay and lesbian UGA employees, including her own
partner. Kane feared the U.S. Supreme Court would deal the
LGBT community another setback the following Wednesday by
upholding the Defense of Marriage Act.
"This morning, for me, started out with some trepidation,"
she said June 26. "Are we going to get some more bad news or
some good news?"
It was good news—maybe the best they'd ever heard. The
Supreme Court struck down DOMA, and more than 50 people
gathered that evening to celebrate at the UGA Episcopal
Student Center. One activist, Ricky Roberts, even broke out
into song.
Kane acknowledged that many people feel frustrated and
angry that they have to work so hard to win their rights. She
and others, though, were optimistic that they would win in the
end.
"I believe in my heart we will have marriage equality in
the state of Georgia," said Melinda Sheldon, deputy director of
Georgia Equality.
But the UGA Foundation's decision shows just how much
work LGBT activists have ahead of them. They won a small vic
tory in May, when University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby
agreed to let UGA offer "soft" benefits, paid for by employ
ees, such as dental and life insurance, to domestic partners.
Huckaby also told UGA President Michael Adams that offering
health insurance to domestic partners was fine, as long as no
taxpayer funds were involved.
To many, the UGA Foundation seemed the obvious source
of funding, as it raises private donations. Yet June 24, the
university announced the foundation's decision not to fund
the benefits, in part because the foundation is administered
by state-paid employees, meaning benefits would require the
indirect use of state funds. The foundation also said health
care funding for the domestic partners of UGA employees lies
outside of its mission. Flagpole was unable to reach founda
tion Chairman Bill Young for comment, and its communications
director did not respond to questions.
"I'm incredibly disappointed in this decision," said Janet
Frick, chairwoman of the University Council's Human Resources
Committee. "I see this as a huge missed opportunity for UGA."
6 FLAGP0LE.C0M • JULY 3, 2013
BLAKE AJED