Let's Protect Marriage

An article on CNN details how heterosexual marriages are being protected. Ha, ha, just kidding. The article's really about how some people in this country are still deprived of rights and benefits so many of us take for granted. The background is this: Ralph Martinelli works for Konica Minolta and is married to Robert Ryan. They previously lived in New Jersey, which does acknowledge gay marriage, and the company extended health benefits to Ryan. Now they've moved to Idaho, which doesn't acknowledge gay marriage. The company has since seen fit to retract Ryan's benefits because they can.

Now, there are several things wrong with this story. First, these two should have done their research and figured out what might happen when they moved. I hope that they moved to serve as a testcase, though. If so, kudos -- not enough people in this country are willing to do things like that to challenge unjust laws. But I find their surprise at this situation very odd.

Second, Konica Minolta didn't need to retract Ryan's benefits -- it's up to them, but since the state (Idaho) doesn't require them to like New Jersey did, they've retracted this. The company is well within its rights to offer whatever benefits they want to employees, but this is still surprising that a company could be so oblivious to an employee relations trap. I'll reiterate: Konica is within their rights as a private entity to do whatever they want in terms of employee benefits, but why is Martinelli still loyal to a company that hasn't shown him any loyalty?

As the spokeswoman for the Idaho Dept. of Insurance said: "[Domestic partner benefits are] legal in the state, but we don't keep track of which companies offer [them]." I would think that maintaining equivalent benefit level would be a part of any company moving package.

Then we get to protecting "normal" marriages. Idaho has a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The Idaho Values Alliance, who helped draft this amendment said: "The amendment was meant to protect the institution of marriage". I've always been trying to figure out how laws such as these protect marriage. Are heterosexual people going to get a divorce if they see a gay couple on the street? Seems like these laws are really just designed to punish gays. Which they probably are.