wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Domestic-partner benefits to be studied

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8380 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Domestic-partner benefits to be studied
GA04086
July 1, 2004

Domestic-partner benefits to be studied

BOP asked to consider including couples in long-term relationships

by Evan Silverstein

RICHMOND, July 1 - The General Assembly on Wednesday approved a
commissioners' resolution asking the Presbyterian Board of Pensions (BOP) to
explore the feasibility of making the same benefits provided to married
couples available to domestic partners in long-term committed relationships,
including same-sex relationships.

The commissioners voted 328 to 173, with seven abstentions, to approve the
measure. The Assembly Committee on Pensions, Foundation and PILP had
recommended approval.

BOP is instructed to report on the matter to the 217th Assembly, in 2006. The
pensions committee added a comment that the resolution should be reviewed and
deliberated "in accordance with the constitution of the Presbyterian Church
(USA)."

The resolution was submitted by commissioners John Rhodes, of the Presbytery
of New York City, and William Dummer, of the Presbytery of Milwaukee. The
rationale filed with it said such benefits, "which married couples in our
society take for granted, are routinely denied to same-sex couples in
long-term relationships."

According to the rationale, an increasing number of corporations are granting
domestic-partner benefits to employees in long-term same-sex relationships -
including health, dental and vision-care insurance, beneficiary designations
for pensions, funeral and bereavement leave, and flexible spending accounts
for health and childcare expenses.

The resolution pointed out that the 2002 Assembly reaffirmed the call of the
1978 General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States
of America (UPCUSA) for its members "to work for the passage of laws that
prohibit discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, and public
accommodations based on the sexual orientation of a person."

In related business, the Assembly:

*Confirmed the re-election of Robert E. Leech as president and chief
executive officer of the Foundation for an additional four-year term.

*Confirmed the election of the Rev. James L. Hudson as president of the
Presbyterian Church (USA) Investment and Loan Program (PILP).

*Disapproved an overture from the Presbytery of Abingdon calling for the
appointment of a task force to review BOP's medical plan.

*Asked BOP to revise its rules for calculating salary for clergy couples
serving in the equivalent of one position.

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216/.

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