Dane County can and should lead in fighting bias

An editorial  —  7/24/2008 5:25 am

Wisconsin led the nation in making a commitment to equal treatment of gays and lesbians in 1982, when the Legislature enacted (and Republican Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus signed) groundbreaking anti-discrimination legislation.

Unfortunately, that legislation did not include adequate protections for same-sex couples. And the 2006 approval of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages further complicated the issue.

So Dane County officials are moving to clarify matters by establishing a countywide domestic partner registry through the County Clerk's Office, which would be similar to what Madison has offered since 1990.

Dane County would be the first county in the state to create a registry.

That's significant, for symbolic and practical reasons.

Similar to ordinances that have been enacted in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Minneapolis, this measure would offer same-sex couples, who cannot marry under state law, formal recognition of their commitments to one another while also allowing businesses and other entities such as hospitals to validate domestic partner relationships.

This is, as Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk says, "a matter of fairness."

Falk is right: "Domestic partner benefits ensure workers and their families are treated equally."

But the measure is also something more.

Under the proposal by board Chair Scott McDonell and Madison Supervisors Chuck Erickson and Kyle Richmond to create the registry, Dane County would also establish a formal policy that companies that do business with the county must offer benefits to their employees' domestic partners.

Far from imposing a burden on business that might drive away new investment, this policy would make Madison and Dane County more attractive to forward-looking firms that know they will only attract the best and brightest employees in communities that reject discrimination.

An editorial  —  7/24/2008 5:25 am