AZ Families Harmed

On September 4, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a budget bill that included a provision eliminating health insurance coverage for state employees’ domestic partners — just one year after an equal benefits plan was approved by former Governor Janet Napolitano, now Department of Homeland Security Secretary.

The new law eliminates vital benefits for a small, politically vulnerable group of public workers; under the new law, gay and lesbian state employees will be barred from obtaining health benefits for an unmarried life partner.

Family and financial stability of committed life partners is threatened, and Lambda Legal believes the new budget represents a breach in the ‘equal pay for equal work’ ethic, and inflicts severe hardship on a targeted group of Arizona families.

Lambda Legal is encouraging lesbian and gay Arizona state employees who may be affected by the new discriminatory law to contact Staff Attorney Tara Borelli.