MSU protest brings 150 out against Prop. 8

EAST LANSING –
With a light wind and temperatures hoovering just above freezing, 150 people gathered at Michigan State University to join in an international protest of the passage of California's Proposition 8.
"This event was a huge success," said Justin Lippi, a co-organizer of the event. "We joined over 300 cities across the nation in finally standing up and saying 'enough is enough.' The weather was cold and there were threats of rain, but the crowd was great and the speakers were excellent."
Among the speakers was Yona Cloonan, 32, who attended the rally with her partner, Jennifer, 32, and their two-year-old son, Teag. Yona and Jennifer moved from Seattle a year and half ago so Yona could pursue post-doctoral work in epidemology. It's a move Yona said was a mistake.
"Its pretty ridiculous we have to worry about this and other people don't," Yona said about adoption rights, same-sex partner benefits and Michigan law. "I guess I wish I had realized what it would have been like before."
Yona said while in Seattle, the couple was easily recognized as partners by registering as a domestic partnership or civil union with the city. She said they had no issue finding a doctor to perform the artificial insemination which lead to Teag's birth, and insurance through the university was never an issue. Second parent adoption was a familiar and rather simple procedure in the city as well, she said. Jennifer was listed as Teag's parent on his birth certificate, while the second parent adoption was approved after only a couple of months of waiting.
Michigan, however, is another story.
While Jennifer is covered by Yona's insurance through MSU, Yona is taxed on it as if it were an actual income. In addition, Jennifer is pregnant with the couple's second child. And until Yona and Jennifer can complete a second parent adoption, the insurance will cover the new baby as yet another "other eligible individual." That means Yona will pay taxes on the money spent for the insurance for that baby.
"That's $900 a month I dont actually get but I will be taxed on it," Yona said.
To add insult to injury, Yona said, when the couple decided to have their second child, they had trouble finding a reproductive health clinic to assist in the insemination.
"We had a hassle finding a place to do it," she said. After an upsetting interview with a doctor at a clinic in Lansing, they called a clinic in Grand Rapids and were told that clinic only assisted "married" couples. They finally landed at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. "It was very frustrating and upsetting to have to search around and have people being rude."
After a successful procedure to impregnant Jennifer, the couple ran into another lesbian couple this summer and learned that second parent adoption in Michigan was difficult, if not impossible to complete. Jennifer said the other couple told them they had filled out guardianship paperwork, but that it was up to each medical facility as to whether they would honor that document. It was a risk the couple did not want to take.
She even called Lambda Legal Defense and asked them for information about second parent adoption in Michigan. The response they gave her?
"They said 'I recommend you move to another state,'" Yona said.
And that is exactly what the couple is doing. They are packing up and heading out to the Pittsburg, Penn. area. They both are familiar with the area, and Jennifer has family there. Second parent adoption is possible, and Yona can keep her post-doctoral position, traveling back to Michigan every month or so to report in. The remainder of her work will be done online.
"The point of doing a post doc is you keep in mind you might transition into a faculty position there. It might have been an option," Yona said. "I decided not submit my grant because I am not going to stay here. It is a waste of my effort and I am going to go somewhere else and submit it there. If that is what Michigan wants then they will have the brain drain. It's unfortunate. Quality of life is important not just affordability."