The AFT in Montana helped secure an important victory for equity for gay and lesbian partners in January when the state Supreme Court ruled the university system must provide health insurance for the same-sex partners of their employees.

The ruling is the first legal requirement set by a state regarding health benefits for same-sex partners. In a 4-3 decision, the court reasoned that since benefits were available to unmarried heterosexual partners who could prove common-law marriage, to deny the same benefits to same-sex partners would be a violation of the equal protection clause in the state's constitution.

The triumph was especially sweet for the four women who crusaded to win this right. "I just wanted to make a difference so other families could get benefits," says Carol Snetsinger, who worked in the biology department at the University of Montana. She has since left the university. "The end result had a much bigger effect than I thought."

The case sets an important precedent that equal protection includes homosexuals, adds Snetsinger, who was one of four individuals to sue the university system for benefits. The suit was filed in February 2002, but dismissed in District Court; the appeal came to the state Supreme Court in March 2003. Other plaintiffs in the case were Snetsinger's partner, Nancy Siegel; Carla Grayson, a psychology professor and UFA member; her partner, Adrianne Neff; and Montana PRIDE; they were represented by an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union. The AFT's state affiliate, MEA-MFT, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the plaintiffs.

When Snetsinger took a job at the University of Montana, where she worked in curriculum development and Web design for the biology department, she applied for health insurance for her partner, Nancy Siegel. However, she was told it was not available to her. She was put in touch with an organization for gay staff and faculty, the Lambda Alliance, which was already working on the issue.

"It was completely unjust that my colleagues got these benefits that I felt I was entitled to, especially in light [of the fact] that they were giving unmarried partners benefits," says Snetsinger.

When the Lambda Alliance approached the University Faculty Association/ MEA-MFT/AFT, "we moved right away to identify this as a membership issue," says Mike Kupilik, president of UFA. Although Snetsinger was a part-time employee and not a member, it was an issue relevant to other employees, he said. "We got the [MEA-MFT] board of directors to vote on it as an issue and they weighed in as a friend of the court [supporting the plaintiffs] in the suit. They lent their name at our urging."

Shortly after the suit was filed, arsonists destroyed the home of Grayson and Neff; they escaped, with their infant son, through a window. They have since moved out of the state.

"We were pretty terrified for a while," recalls Snetsinger, who received death threats and a letter claiming to be laced with anthrax (it wasn't). But the community rallied behind her; the police and the gay community hammered out a supportive relationship that continues today, and the county government adopted a policy allowing same-sex domestic partnership benefits as well.

For their persistence and bravery, the four complainants received the Walt Brown Award from the Montana Human Rights Network on Feb. 6, 2004, the first anniversary of the house burning.

"Given the attitudes of the state," says Kupilik, reflecting on the November 2004 referendum in Montana to prohibit gay marriage, "this is a remarkable decision based on equity." [Virginia Myers Kelly]

January 20, 2005