Valentine's Day is not the only upcoming celebration of love. This week also marks the observance of National Freedom to Marry Week. Energized by the arrival of marriage equality in Canada-and soon in Massachusetts-the event highlights the consequences of marriage discrimination against lesbian and gay couples, and demonstrates the need for equality.
Freedom to Marry Week offers an opportunity to examine how the UW fares when it comes to equality. The UW has a reputation as a hotbed of progressivism, but when we scratch the surface, it is immediately obvious that the University discriminates against gays and lesbians and shows a troubling indifference to problems such as these:
Eight of the 11 Big Ten schools give the partners of gay faculty, staff and students access to the same health-care benefits that opposite-sex spouses receive. These domestic partner benefits cost little and are rapidly becoming the norm in the private sector (212 of the Fortune 500 and counting).
Prominent faculty (two in sociology, one in theater) have left UW-Madison in recent years, citing this lack of equality in benefits. While the University does not keep statistics on how many new faculty recruits (or staff or grad students) turn down offers to come to UW because of the same discriminatory policies, anecdotal evidence suggests the number is not insignificant.
Despite high-level lip service, the University does not really make securing domestic partner benefits a priority. Ironically, in a year in which it became possible for the first time to negotiate for domestic partner benefits thanks to the Doyle Administration, the issue seemed to drop off the University's list entirely. It is hard to believe that this was a mere slip, given the dramatic court rulings in 2003 that put gay civil rights on everyone's radar screen. Was it instead an act of moral cowardice on the part of administrators who feared annoying the anti-gay legislative leadership in a sensitive budget year?
The University does not even seem willing to answer questions about the legal status of legally married same-sex couples. My partner and I joined several other members of the faculty and staff by marrying in Canada last year. Inquiries into our status at the UW have been brushed off and ignored.
Gay and lesbian couples support each other, and many are raising children as well, sharing all the same joys and worries that straight couples and straight parents have. The only difference is that opposite-sex partnerships and families are recognized and protected under the law-and at the UW-while gay ones are not.
When we refuse to stand up to forces in the legislature opposed to equality under the law for all, we undermine the central mission of the university as an educational institution. In trying not to annoy powerful legislators, our university leaders participate in the same bigotry these legislators practice. When it comes to gay civil rights, the UW is no leader. At best, it is a passive follower, waiting much too patiently for the day when equality will be implemented by consensus rather than fighting to make that day come as soon as possible.
What can be done about this?
Gay and lesbian students, staff and faculty need to be open about their sexuality and demand that the university actively fight for civil rights.
Straight members of the UW community should make the same demand because this issue cuts to the heart of the university's mission.
All of us should get involved in the broader efforts for equality that are already under way. One of the best ways to do this is to attend the Town Hall on Marriage Equality Thursday, Feb. 12 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre.
In uniting for equality, we can force UW's leaders to stop compromising the moral integrity of the university by accommodating prejudice for the sake of political convenience. This issue can no longer be ignored.
