Larry deGroen and Thomas Dixon
CONTACT: Western Regional Office, 213-382-7600
A longtime fireman, Larry deGroen has served the city of Bellevue and its residents since January 1995. He has completed extensive firefighter training and is also a certified paramedic. Through it all Larry has been in a committed relationship for 16 years with his partner, Thomas "Tom" Dixon. The couple have combined their incomes and finances, and they share every aspect of their life together.
In December 2005, Tom's father passed away after suffering a catastrophic stroke. Larry requested one day of paid funeral leave to attend an out-of-state memorial service and was under the impression that his absence would be classified as funeral leave just as it would be for a heterosexual, married colleague. But when Larry returned, he was shocked to discover that his absence was instead recorded as paid emergency leave and that he was required to reimburse the city by working an additional day of overtime without pay. Larry requested that his leave be reclassified as funeral leave but was denied by his superiors. If the city treated its gay and lesbian employees in committed relationships equally to its heterosexual, married employees, Larry would have been granted paid funeral leave. Instead, Larry was treated unfairly by the city and penalized for supporting his partner in his time of need.
