ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
A state senator has filed bills to outlaw hate crimes and discrimination in jobs and housing against homosexuals in Virginia, a state where sodomy is a crime and gay marriages are not recognized.
One of the three bills introduced by Sen. Patsy Ticer also would allow companies to provide health insurance that could be extended to cover same-sex partners.
``I personally view this whole subject as a civil rights matter,'' said Ticer, D-Alexandria.
Companies incorporated in Virginia cannot offer health insurance benefits to domestic partners, Ticer said Tuesday. Present law deals only with spouses and dependents.
Her bill would not require employers to provide insurance covering employees' same-sex partners, but gives them that option.
Four states already offer health benefits to domestic partners, said David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian lobby group based in Washington. Companies such as Disney, IBM and Microsoft also offer domestic partner benefits, he said.
``Domestic partnership comes down to offering people equal pay for equal work,'' Smith said. Those benefits are worth money, and denying equal health coverage to gay or lesbian employees deprives them of equal compensation, he said.
The bill defines domestic partners as ``any person who shares a familial relationship with another person characterized by mutual caring and the sharing of a mutual residence.''
Ticer said the language is broad enough to include roommates and nontraditional families such as mothers living with daughters.
She said she expects the bill to run into some resistance. ``People will think about cost, about opening a Pandora's box.''
Brooke Taylor, a spokeswoman for Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, said she had not seen the bill.
Sen. Stephen Martin, R-Chesterfield, said he would oppose giving domestic partners similar rights to spouses.
``They are not in fact a married couple who have the ability to create and raise a family that would warrant those benefits,'' he said.
Ticer said the other two proposals probably will be less controversial. One concerns civil rights protection in employment and the other deals with housing.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB