by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced this week that her city will begin offering spousal benefits to Gay and Lesbian partners legally married to City workers.

The openly Lesbian mayor was first elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2011, and again this year.

Texas law forbids same-sex marriage, and a Houston city charter amendment adopted in 2001 specifically limits benefits to 'legal spouses.' At the time it was adopted, the amendment meant that no same-sex partners were eligible for City-provided benefits. In the 12 years since 2001, however, 16 states have allowed Gay and Lesbian couples to marry, civil suits for marriage recognition have been filed in 21 more, and the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down DOMA.

'After a careful review of recent case law, the city legal department believes continued application of the charter amendment so as to deny same-sex spousal benefits would be unlawful because it treats employees differently on the basis of sexual orientation,' the mayor's office said in a statement issued November 20.

'Based on the right to equal protection under the law, it is unconstitutional for the city to continue to deny benefits to the same-sex spouses of our employees who are legally married,' Parker added. 'This change is not only the legal thing to do, it is the right, just and fair thing to do.'

MARRIED COUPLES ONLY
As a result of this policy change, same-sex spouses of city employees will now be eligible for the same health care and life insurance benefits previously offered only to opposite-sex spouses. The new policy does not apply to domestic partners, only to legally married couples.

The mayor's office said it does not know at this time how many employees will take advantage of the change because there is no way to know how many have legally recognized same-sex marriages.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the mayor herself will not be able to take advantage of the new rule, because she and her partner of 24 years, Kathy Hubbard, have not been married in a state where that is legal.

Houston joins several other Texas cities offering benefits to same-sex partners, including Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.

Parker's announcement could embroil Houston in a legal battle with Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, who issued a nonbinding advisory opinion in April saying he believes same-sex partner benefits offered by local government entities are illegal under Texas' constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Abbott is running for governor in 2014.

The mayor's office noted in its November 20 statement that the new policy is compatible with federal rules, however.

'The city of Houston is following actions already taken by several federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, which announced in August that all legally married same-sex couples will be recognized as married for federal tax purposes, even if those couples reside in states that do not recognize same-sex marriage,' the statement says.

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