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Voters did not intend to take benefits away

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DETROIT — The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today at 9:30 a.m. on the American Civil Liberties Union's request to appeal the Court of Appeals' ruling that the state's marriage amendment prohibits public employers from offering domestic partner benefits. The ACLU of Michigan will ask the court to remand the case to the lower court to determine voter intent.
In February 2007, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled to overturn a trial courts decision that public employers may offer these benefits without violating the "marriage amendment." The ruling was appealed by Attorney General Mike Cox, who intervened as a defendant.
When voters passed the amendment, they were told that it would not impact domestic partnership benefits that provide health coverage for same-sex couples. The ACLU argued that a public employer voluntarily offering domestic partnerships to same-sex domestic partners did not in turn create a marriage.
Furthermore, the two groups that lead the campaign for passage of the amendment, Citizens for the Protection of Marriage and American Family Association of Michigan both insisted that the language concerned "marriage only." Campaign director Marlene Elwell, according to published reports, said: "This has nothing to do with taking benefits away. This is about marriage between a man and a woman."
In April 2005, the ACLU of Michigan filed this lawsuit on behalf of 21 families in Ingham County Circuit Court seeking a declaratory ruling that Proposal 2, which amended the Michigan Constitution in November 2004 to prohibit gay marriage, allows public employers to offering health care insurance, otherwise called domestic partnership benefits, to lesbian and gay families.
The 21 families were represented by Jay Kaplan, ACLU of Michigan LGBT Project Staff Attorney; Michael Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director; Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director and ACLU of Michigan Fund Cooperating Attorneys Deborah Labelle, Thomas P. Wilczak, Barbara Eckert Buchanan, Kurt A. Kissling, Amanda J. Shelton, Roderick M. Hills, Jr. and Nancy S. Katz.

To read more about National Pride At Work v. Granholm, including the legal documents: http://www.aclumich.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426

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