Orange repeals same-sex benefits

Orange County government will end domestic-partner benefits for unmarried same-sex couples now that gay marriage is legal.

County commissioners voted without discussion Tuesday to repeal the benefits effective Jan. 1, 2017.

The county began offering medical, dental and vision benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees in 2012 when state law forbid same-sex couples to marry. Eleven county employees who take advantage of the Domestic Partnership Benefits Program have a choice to make: Marry or lose benefits in 2017.

The civil-rights group, Equality Florida Institute, called the repeal “a significant step backward.”

“Some couples do not marry for both personal and practical reasons, but these families are just as deserving of health insurance and other protections,” said Stratton Pollitzer, the group’s deputy director. “The county should be expanding its domestic partner benefits to include both same-sex and opposite-sex couples like the vast majority of Florida municipalities.”

Eleven county employees have a choice to make: Marry or lose benefits in 2017.

The group argued that it will put Orange at a competitive disadvantage to Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and other counties that offer the benefits to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. More than two-thirds of Fortune 500 employers offer domestic-partner benefits to employees.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 26 that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples a right to marry.

Orange County Comptroller Martha Haynie, who created the county’s domesticpartnership registry and was honored by Equality Florida for her contributions to civil rights, said the group’s argument for expanding the partnership benefits is worthy of a broader policy discussion.

“But unless [the county] offers benefits to heterosexual couples, I don’t think I can make a strong argument for keeping it,” she said.