Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Gay in Michigan? The Governor wants you to leave

The right-wing Michigan Governor has outlawed health benefits for unmarried partners of government employees. From the Advocate:
A bill to end health insurance coverage for domestic partners of government workers in Michigan was signed into law today by GOP governor Rick Snyder....
“Governor Snyder’s support for this bill is appalling," Emily Dievendorf, director of policy for Equality Michigan, said in a statement. "Today, the governor told unmarried public employees that they can no longer care for their partners or children. He has put hardworking gay and lesbian couples and their children into harm’s way by eliminating important health care coverage. He has spent the last two years talking about creating a welcoming state with a attractive business climate, and this bill flies in the face of those goals."
This will particularly hit academic institutions, as I've described before.  Academics don't like working in places where there is institutionalized bigotry.  Good time to be picking up talented faculty from U-Michigan.  And since more and more companies support benefits (indeed, quite a large number of major firms are actively opposed to DOMA ), this will also hit the business climate.

So Michigan may be purer, but it will surely also be poorer.

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