The University recently announced that students who have the Aetna Student Health insurance plan will be allowed to add an opposite- or same-sex partner. More graduate students than undergraduates will likely take advantage of the option, but it still will allow people who previously did not have health care to access it.
The inclusion of same sex partners represents a step toward greater equality in the community. This change symbolizes the University’s support for the LGBTQ community and openness to a diversity of families. The change might encourage more students in same-sex partnerships to come to the University, because they see it as a place of acceptance and their families would benefit from the University’s health plan options.
The question dragging on the heels of this change, however, is why the University still does not offer same sex partner benefits to its faculty and staff. University spokesperson Virginia Carter said the student plan and the faculty/staff plan are completely different, and state law prohibits offering same sex partner benefits to faculty.
Presumably, the University can offer the same-sex partner health benefits to students but not faculty because students have to pay the entire cost of their plans themselves. Faculty and staff get health plans as employees of a state-run entity, since the University is a public institution. The commonwealth of Virginia has a constitutional amendment that prohibits the recognition of any kind of marriage other than the union of a man and a woman; offering health benefits to a same sex partner would be that kind of recognition. The University has repeatedly used this legal obstacle to explain why they cannot offer same sex partner benefits to their employees.
Though the logistics of the student plan and the faculty/staff plan are different, principles of equality should apply to all members of the University community — and that includes professors and workers. The University is effectively saying that changing student options is the best they can do for right now. But its refusal to take action is frustrating and alienating for LGBTQ faculty members.
Even though the University is a public institution, it is an autonomous entity that must be held accountable for the treatment of its employees. University President Teresa Sullivan did sign a letter to Attorney General Mark Herring requesting the state of Virginia change its laws to allow for same sex partner benefits. And though the president’s support for same sex benefits is positive, only sending a letter requesting the state make a change sends the ball back to their court, while LGBTQ faculty members are still marginalized.
Attorney General Mark Herring has already taken a political stand in refusing to defend the amendment which restricts the definition of marriage that the state can recognize. Now that a Virginia judge has struck down the amendment banning gay marriage, it seems as though this battle is headed toward victory for the LGBTQ community. However, that trajectory does not mean it is acceptable for the University to sit by complacently while some of their faculty’s loved ones may be suffering from lack of medical care, or prospective new professors turn down offers because they would not get benefits for their partners. With the support of Attorney General Mark Herring, it is unlikely the University would face any adverse consequences if it extended benefits to same sex partners now.
The University relies on an interpretation of the amendment written by former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli which said allowing same sex partner benefits would not be in accordance with the law. But Cuccinelli is no longer in office, and Herring has indicated strong support for marriage equality, diminishing the legitimacy of the University’s excuse not to offer benefits to same sex couples.
The University has the opportunity to take a political stand which promotes the ideal of equality, and to make a change which would benefit itself and the members of its community. The University is currently taking a passive approach, waiting for the government to open the door to marriage equality. But the University can take that step itself. The longer it waits to take it, the longer injustice is perpetuated.
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