North Carolina County Approves Domestic Partner Benefits After Heated Vote

12/16/09-by Paula Brooks Mecklenburg_County,_North_Carolina_seal
Yesterday, by a vote of 6-3, Mecklenburg County North Carolina Commissioners approved a measure to will provide domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples.

According to a report on North Carolinas Q-Notes…

The approved plan will define “domestic partners” as two same-sex people in a “spousal like” and “exclusive, mutually committed” relationship in which both “share the necessities of life and are financially interdependent.” The county will require domestic partners meet certain criteria and provide signed legal affidavits along with joint financial documents such as a joint mortgage or lease. Employees will be able to enroll in a domestic partner plan sometime next fall, when the county government enters into a new health insurance enrollment period. Mecklenburg County’s plan will not include opposite-sex, unmarried couples. via Q-Notes

The county’s Human Resources department expects the expanded coverage will cost the county less than $400,000 a year.

Debate before the vote, marked by nearly two hours of rancorous exchange between commissioners and about a dozen county residents.

“I’m from the old school and I know what is right and I know what is wrong,” Jason Colley said. “I know what is good and I know what is bad. I do not wish my taxes to go to something of this nature. It seems like to me the minorities always get their way in whatever minority class it may be. I thought we were governed by majority rule. It doesn’t seem that way.”

“What we’re doing is lawful. It is fair. It values our employees,” said Commission Chairman Jennifer Roberts. “It helps them in a tough economy if one loses a job. It helps them retain benefits and we know in the end that people are healthier and that health care is less expensive when people are covered.”

In the end, the final vote split along party line, but not before tempers flared between two county commissioners after Democratic commissioner Vilma Leake, spoke about her son dying of AIDS…

“I did not know that in 2010 that I would be sitting here to defend … his lifestyle.”

According to WBTV, Republican commissioner Bill James leaned over and responded: “Your son was a homo, really?” His remarks were not made into the microphone on his desk, but it could be heard in the audio coverage of the meeting.

Leake then was heard to respond, “Don’t make me hurt you. Don’t do that to me. Don’t talk to me about my son.”via CharlotteObserver.com.

Mecklenburg County will become one of seven municipalities in North Carolina to offer health care benefits to domestic partners of employees. The others include the cities of Durham, Greensboro and the town of Chapel Hill.

“Everyone deserves equal compensation for equal work,” Ian Palmquist, Executive Director of Equality NC said after the vote. “Mecklenburg County is doing the right thing by following the lead of major employers like Wachovia and Bank of America and ensuring that all their workers get the same benefits, regardless of sexual orientation.”