Arizona LGBT Workers Sue to Maintain Benefits

Yesterday, Gay and Lesbian university and state workers in Arizona filed a suit aimed at overturning a law which takes away their domestic partner benefits.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, and claims the move to retract domestic partner benefits violates constitutional protections that guarantee equal treatment of all individuals.

Tara Borelli, an attorney with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund stated:

“These gay and lesbian state workers just want the same thing that workers at the next desk, in the next patrol car, get.”

Borelli also indicated refusing equal benefits for all employees is the same as paying some employees less for the same work.

Tracy Collins, a senior patrol officer with the Department of Public Safety, who is also one of the 10 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, is concerned, because if the change takes effect as scheduled on October 1, 2010 she will lose the benefits that now go to her partner and their children. Collins stated:

“I do the exact same job all of the other officers do for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.”

Collins also noted that her 10-year relationship demonstrated her relationship is just as committed as the relationships of married DPS staffers, adding:

“I do believe that we deserve the same rights as every other officer does with a family.”

The employees are in jeopardy of loosing their partner benefits after the state’s “Christian” Governor, Jan Brewer, who admittedly holds open prayer sessions while determining state law, signed a law that redefines a ‘dependent,’ canceling the rule change made by the state’s former Gov. Janet Napolitano that allowed domestic partners to receive benefits.