U Michigan alters domestic parner benefits to work around with anti-gay law

Inside Higher Ed:

The University of Michigan has become the latest institution to alter a domestic partner health benefits plan to comply with court rulings finding that such plans can violate state policies against gay marriage. Michigan’s revised plan, designed to keep benefits in place during an appeal of a court ruling in that state, creates a broad category of “Other Qualified Adult” whom a Michigan employee can cover with his or her benefits. By not designating this person as a domestic partner, the university hopes to comply with a February ruling by an appeals court that found the old benefits recognized same-sex partners in a way that violated the state ban on gay marriage. Michigan State made a similar shift in its benefits, as did the University of Kentucky, in response to an opinion from that state’s attorney general.

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