ACLU-NJ Chides Konica for Stripping Relocated NJ Couple's Benefits

Newark, NJ - Seeking to maintain health insurance for a 9/11 survivor, the American Civil Liberties Union today sent a demand letter to the New Jersey offices of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (KMBS) urging the company to interpret its policy on domestic partner health insurance so that more employees will have access to the insurance. KMBS currently interprets its policy as requiring employees to re-register as domestic partners with the state every time that they move, even though many states have no way for same-sex partners to do so.

"I'm still working at the same company, doing the same job. Why shouldn't I be able to cover my partner in Idaho like I did in New Jersey? This would never happen to a married couple," said Ralph Martinelli. "Konica wants everyone to think they care about their gay employees, but the way Konica is interpreting its policy is so restrictive that many employees are shut out of the coverage."

Martinelli, a district sales manager for KMBS, where he has worked for five years, was told that he would not be able to continue covering his partner when the couple moved from New Jersey to Idaho last year because there is no domestic partner registry in Idaho. Martinelli and his partner, Robert Ryan, have been registered domestic partners in New Jersey since 2005, and KMBS allowed Martinelli to cover Ryan when the couple lived in New Jersey.

The couple has been paying for COBRA coverage for Ryan since his insurance was cut off in October, 2007, but that coverage is very expensive and ends after 18 months -- in March of 2009. Ryan is working as a seasonal tax preparer and is looking for a full-time position. While he has recovered mostly from the trauma of being in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he still has mental and physical health needs that require regular medical care and expensive medications. Due to the cost of medical insurance, he may have to go without the care he requires if Konica Minolta continues to prevent Martinelli from extending benefits to his partner.

Typically, companies that wish to offer domestic partnership benefits to employees living in states that do not recognize same-sex relationships either accept a marriage, civil union or domestic partnership certificate from another state, or have the employee submit an affidavit attesting to the partnership.

"Konica Minolta wants all the good will that comes with providing domestic partner insurance, but they clearly don't want to have to provide the benefits. Otherwise they would never be interpreting its policy in such a restrictive way," said Jack Van Valkenburgh, Executive Director of the ACLU of Idaho. "Companies have been providing domestic partner coverage for many years now. The only possible reason for interpreting the policy the way that Konica does is to make it harder for employees to be able to provide coverage for their partners."

Martinelli and Ryan moved to Idaho so that Ryan, who experienced mental health trauma as a survivor of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, could find some relief away from the New York metropolitan area. Before he met Martinelli, Ryan managed the insurance licensing division at Morgan Stanley, and was in his office on the 74th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the first airplane struck the North Tower. While he was evacuating, Ryan became separated from the employees he supervised, and later was trampled by a crowd after the second airplane hit his office building, only four floors above where he was working that morning. After the attack he was unable to work due to the trauma, went on disability for one year, and spent his retirement savings to stay afloat. He met Martinelli in 2004. The two lived in New Jersey and then moved to Idaho, which they enjoy because of its natural beauty and its distance from constant reminders of that traumatic day.

Ed Barocas, Legal Director the ACLU of New Jersey, said, "Underlying all of this is the confusion and mistrust engendered by terms like 'civil union' and 'domestic partnership' as opposed to 'marriage.' Same-sex couples are asked to prove that their relationships aren't imaginary every time they move, and employers take advantage of the lack of uniformity to treat people unfairly."

The couple is represented by Sharon McGowan, Staff Attorney for the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, and Teresa Renaker of the firm Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker, & Jackson of Oakland, California.

Censorship of Gay Student Is Discriminatory Free Speech Violation

NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey In A Letter Sent Today (237k PDF) called on the Newark Public Schools to rescind last week's decision to censor hundreds of East Side High School yearbooks that included a photo of a male student kissing his boyfriend. The ACLU-NJ advised the school district that its censorship of this photo violates free speech and New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination.

"With so many challenges the Newark Public Schools face in educating their students, what a waste that they took the time to teach a lesson in discrimination and censorship instead of equality and free speech," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs.

At the direction of Newark Public Schools Superintendent Marion Bolden, school personnel used markers to block out the image of student Andre Jackson and his boyfriend, while allowing photos of heterosexual students kissing to remain. The photo was on a tribute page paid for by Jackson; tribute pages make up about 20 percent of the yearbook, and several others showed heterosexual couples kissing.

The ACLU-NJ called on the school district to immediately re-issue the yearbook to all students with the original photograph in place.

The ACLU-NJ's letter to Superintendent Bolden, sent by Legal Director Ed Barocas, cited numerous cases and grounds on which the schools actions could be challenged, including a recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that specifically addressed discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students. The court ruled that students, including LGBT students, have as much a right to be free from discrimination in their schools as adults have to be free from discrimination in the workplace. The ACLU-NJ had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in that case.

"Treating same-sex couples differently from heterosexual couples not only disregards the fundamental guarantees of the Constitution and the laws of the State of New Jersey but also sends a dangerous message to the student body," Barocas said in the letter. "The message that LGBT students are unacceptable and undeserving serves to justify peer harassment, one of the most serious concerns schools face today."

The ACLU-NJ has addressed similar issues before, including its successful defense of the free speech and equal protection rights of an 11th Grade Student at Bridgeton High School who had been disciplined for wearing a T-shirt that expressed affection for lesbians.

ACLU-NJ News - Gay & Lesbian Rights

ACLU-NJ Chides Konica for Stripping Relocated NJ Couple's Benefits

Censorship of Gay Student Is Discriminatory Free Speech Violation