By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
LANSING – A July 21 court hearing in the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan's case seeking to limit the scope of the anti-family Proposal 2 has been delayed until Aug. 16 to give Governor Jennifer Granholm time to retain separate council.
At issue is the fact that Granholm supports domestic partnership benefits for families headed by same-sex couples while Michigan's Attorney General, Mike Cox, does not. A ruling by Cox has led to a decision by the city of Kalamazoo to discontinue essential benefits to the same-sex partners of employees beginning in January of 2006. The city is a named defendant in the suit, which has been filed by the ACLU of Michigan on behalf of 21 same-sex couples, including Kalamazoo city employees.
Cox, who opposes allowing families headed by same-sex couples to receive the protection offered by extension of health insurance and other benefits to same-sex partners and their children, is charged with defending a position with which he does not agree in the suit. Cox has asked to be allowed to intervene as a separate defendant, charging that his position has not been adequately represented.
Cox is also asking that Granholm be dismissed as a defendant in the case because of her support of domestic partnership benefits.
Granholm spokesperson Liz Boyd said that a "brief will be filed shortly on behalf of Gov. Granholm and that brief will conclude that domestic partner benefits, in and of themselves, do not violate the state Constitution."
Boyd said that the existence of the suit proves Governor Granholm's contention during the November election that the text of Proposal 2 was ambiguous.
"We believe that that ambiguity will be resolved in agreement with what the proponents of Prop. 2 said – that the proposal had nothing to do with domestic partner benefits," Boyd said.
Wendy Wagenheim, communications director for the ACLU, said that her organization has yet to see any new filings by the governor.
"At this point we're taking a wait-and-see attitude," she said.
In early December, Granholm decided to not offer benefits to same-sex couples – which were included in new state labor contracts – until a court rules on their legality.
Additional reporting provided by the Associated Press.
