Back
to Gay Headline News
(New York City) A state appeals court Tuesday struck down a New York City law, which barred the city from doing business with companies that do not provide benefits for the domestic partners of their employees.
In a 5 - 0 ruling the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division said that the Equal Benefits Law was illegal because it "runs afoul" of state law.
"Local Law 27 expressly excludes a class of potential bidders for a reason unrelated to the quality or price of the goods or services they offer," the judges wrote in their decision.
The legislation was passed by city council last May. The following month Bloomberg vetoed it saying the law would hurt the city. Two weeks later council overrode the veto by a 41 - 4 vote.
The law would have required contractors that do more than $100,000 of business each year with NYC to offer benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian workers equal to those the companies give heterosexually married couples.
The legislation would have made health coverage available to tens of thousands of additional people in the New York City region and because many companies which do business with New York are national corporations it could also provide same-sex benefits to hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
When city council overrode the mayor's veto, Bloomberg went to court saying he would not implement the law until the legal process had been exhausted.
Last November a judge ordered Bloomberg to implement the law immediately and the mayor said the law would be put into action while the ruling was appealed.
Tuesday's appeals court ruling came one day after a San Francisco judge struck down California's ban on same-sex marriage.
"The fact that the court has put out a three-and-a-half page decision saying the New York City Council does not have the right to legislate in this area shows it was not even serious about reviewing the legislation and providing a thoroughly-reasoned response," said Alan Van Capelle, Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director.
"If the court's thinking were accurate, no state and certainly not the city could ever question a vendor’s decision to discriminate. Under this rationale, the city would be forced to contract with the Ku Klux Klan if they were the lowest bidder on a contract."
©365Gay.com 2005
Next Story: Thai Gay Resort Recovers
from Tsunami Disaster
Site
Map
[Future Ex-Boyfriend] [Kiss
of the Week] [Boyfriend Art] [Antique
Boyfriend] [No Porn Promise] [Gay
Boyfriends Dating Connection] [gay
gifts and books shopping] [Gay News and Info]
[streaming
gay video] [gay
sex toy superstore] [get a million bucks for
your gay boyfriend]
Gallery of FREE gay Video Clips
|
|
|||
| Gay Webmasters |
Add a Virtual
Gay Stripper to your desktop - Play with him today, he's FREE
