ACLU Alert: Federal Marriage Amendment and Domestic Partner Benefits

Families come in all shapes and sizes. Despite this fact, domestic partners are often excluded from benefits provided to married people. In an effort to halt recent attacks on existing state and local domestic partners laws -- and at the same time encourage the federal government to protect the families of its employees -- the ACLU urges you to take both of the following actions:

Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment

Starting with the Bill of Rights, amendments to the U.S. Constitution have been the source of most of its protections for individual liberty. Despite this proud tradition, Representative Ronnie Shows (D-MS) has introduced a constitutional amendment that would attack the basic rights of millions of Americans. The Federal Marriage Amendment would not only define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman, but it would also invalidate all legal protections for unmarried couples -- gay or straight.

The legal protections that would be invalidated include state and local domestic partnership laws, laws prohibiting discrimination based on marital status and even laws protecting unmarried elderly couples who refrain from marrying in order to hold on to their pensions. In short, proponents of this amendment are so committed to their extreme anti-gay agenda that they would wipe out every single law protecting nontraditional families, no matter what their sexual orientation. As a result, the proposed amendment would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of families.

Take Action! You can read more about this amendment and send a FREE FAX to your Members of Congress from the ACLU action alert at:

http://www.aclu.org/action/marriage107.html

Support Domestic Partnership Benefits for Federal Employees

Eight states and 105 city and county governments provide health insurance benefits to their employees' domestic partners. Similarly, 145 Fortune 500 companies have made domestic partner benefits a standard practice. Isn't it time that the federal government does the same?

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has introduced the "Domestic Partnership and Obligations Act" (H.R. 638). Under this important legislation, the domestic partner of a federal employee would be eligible for benefits in a similar manner and to a similar extent as the spouse of a federal employee. This eligibility would extend to retirement benefits, life insurance, health insurance and compensation for work injuries.

Take Action! You can read more about this bill and send a FREE FAX urging Congress to afford the same privileges and protections to all federal employees in committed relationships from the ACLU action alert at:

http://www.aclu.org/action/dompartner107.html