Look Out What You Ask For!

The Queen of All Evil has the goods on a trend of many large employers in Massachusetts. This Boston Globe Headline pretty much says it all:

"Unmarried gay couples lose health benefits"

The article explains:

"Many of the state's largest employers are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage."

"Massachusetts companies, some of which pioneered so-called domestic-partner benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners, said they are now withdrawing them for reasons of fairness: If gays and lesbians can now marry, they should no longer receive special treatment in the form of health benefits that were not made available to unmarried, opposite-sex couples."

Some of the companies that are dropping the benefits are:

IBM

Raytheon

Northeastern University

Emerson College

Boston Medical Center

(and get this)

The New York Times Co. (owns The Boston Globe)

That last one is a bit confusing. Does The NY Times really put the bottom line above their advocacy? (can you say hypocrites?) Or did they accidentally hire some capitalists in the accounting department? (can you say tartuffes?) Or are they just afraid of potential lawsuits? (can you say pecksniffians?)

Whatever the reasoning, you can be sure that an outcry will be forthcoming from the gay rights lobby. My best guess is that they will use the same argumentation as the affirmative action lobby. But to me, if you have the legal right to get married, as they now do in Mass., then you should not have the right
to the marriage benefits if you are only "shacking up." To allow that would be to discriminate against hetero couples who decide to just "shack up." I mean, everyone knows that two wrongs don't make a right!

This should get interesting!