Much of the rhetoric surrounding the gay marriage ban last month claimed that its passage would eliminate the possibility of UW-Madison ever offering its employees domestic partner benefits. In meetings beginning Thursday, the UW Board of Regents may try to skirt the amendment and offer those benefits anyway in its unclassified pay plan.
It is an embarrassment to know we are students at the only Big Ten university not to offer these benefits. Any and all efforts need to be made to give equal rights to all university employees, gay or straight, and we commend the regents for doing so. Their first step is to find a way around the wording of the amendment.
According to state Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, the author of the gay marriage ban, the wording of the amendment does not prevent the university from offering domestic partner benefits.
If this truly is the case, then we challenge Gundrum to aid the Regents in finding a way to give university employers these benefits. If he is unable or unwilling to do so, it will only prove the hypocrisy of the amendment-backers who claimed so vehemently the amendment would not hurt gay couples.
Hopefully in the future this type of thing will not be an issue. Wisconsin can put its discriminatory constitutional amendments in the past and learn from its mistakes. Until that time comes, we applaud the regents for doing what is best for the university in offering these benefits.
Furthermore, Gundrum should step up and help. So far he has talked the talk. Now it is time for him to walk the walk.
