TESTIMONY BEFORE UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA BOARD OF REGENTS REGARDING BENEFITS FOR DOMESTIC
PARTNERS
San Francisco, California, July 17,
1997
Martin Kassman for American Jewish
Congress
Good afternoon. My name is Marty Kassman. I am a San Francisco attorney, speaking today on behalf of the American Jewish Congress. I serve AJCongress as a member of the Northern Pacific Region board of directors. We are here today to urge the Regents to extend all of the benefits that are now provided to spouses of employees and students to the same-sex domestic partners of employees and students.
A little background to explain our position. AJCongress is a national, nonprofit organization, founded in 1918. We work to protect Jewish interests in a variety of ways. Among the most important ways is safeguarding American democracy and the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
As a natural extension of our fundamental positions supporting equal rights and separation of church and state, AJCongress strongly advocates the end of discrimination based on sexual orientation. To quote briefly from our national resolution on same-sex couples: "Partners in committed gay and lesbian relationships should be able to legally acknowledge their relationships and become eligible for spousal benefits, including health care and survivor entitlements. Our legal system should not deny such couples equal access to housing and public services . . . ."(1)
It follows from that resolution that we believe committed same-sex partners of UC employees and students should be granted the same health, retirement, survivor and housing benefits as are now provided to spouses. Partners of the same gender, no matter how deeply committed to each other, are not able to be legally married, at least for now. A student's or employee's ability to obtain benefits for his or her loved one should not depend on the loved one's gender. For this reason, extending benefits to same-sex domestic partners is a matter of basic fairness.
Thank you for your attention.
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1. Resolution on Equal Rights for Same Sex Couples, adopted by Governing Council of American Jewish Congress at 1995 Annual Meeting, April 30, 1995, reproduced in "Equal Rights For Same Sex Couples," pamphlet published by American Jewish Congress, Northern Pacific Region.