Saturday, September 15, 2007

Show Your Support

The following is a letter drafted by Phil Nash of the University of Maryland's Asian American Studies Program regarding domestic partner benefits within the USM. With help from Equality Maryland, Phil and others have created an online petition that system faculty and staff can sign to show their support for those benefits.

Last I heard, about 400 people had signed!

Check it out:


Dear University System of Maryland
Faculty and Staff,

What would you say if some of our colleagues
were going to be denied health insurance
coverage based on their race?
Surely the
unfairness of a system that rewards equal work
with unequal compensation for one racial group
would lead to a loud outcry and demands for fairness.

Today, a similar situation faces our brothers
and sisters who are lesbians, gays, bisexuals
and transgendered (LGBT).
On every campus
and in many classrooms and offices, LGBT
employees are putting our students and university
first, but are being asked to accept a second-class
level of health insurance coverage.

The Board of Regents may soon decide
whether to extend domestic partner benefits
to the unmarried partners of USM employees, and
if we raise our voices now then we can make a difference.

My Japanese American mother and my English
American father were married in 1951, and
if people like you had not fought to legalize
interracial marriage, my family would have
faced the same issues facing LGBT families today.

That is why, as a straight man who has spent over
a decade teaching at College Park and over two
decades working as a civil rights lawyer, I am
strongly supportive of this extension of domestic
partnership rights. Will you join me?

Please go to http://eqfed.org/campaign/benefits to
read, sign and forward the petition urging the Board
of Regents to support and implement domestic
partner benefits.

Thank you for taking the time to stand up for your
University of Maryland colleagues!

In solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters,

Phil

Phil Tajitsu Nash
Asian American Studies Program
UMCP

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