Meetings: 2002 (2.26) | The President’s Commission for LGBT Issues

February 26, 2002
MEMORANDUM

TO: Members of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents

FR: Vicky Foxworth, Chair, President’s Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, University of Maryland, College Park Campus

RE: Domestic Partner Benefits

On behalf of the President’s Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues at the University of Maryland, College Park Campus, I am writing to express our strong support for domestic partner benefits for all system employees. We are pleased that the Board of Regents is reconsidering this critical issue. Because the State of Maryland passed a statewide non-discrimination bill to include sexual orientation in the last legislative session, there is no longer any reason to deny these benefits to all domestic partners. Not only is this an issue of fairness and equity, it is an issue with important financial and educational implications.
We are significantly behind our peers with regard to the extension of these basic benefits. We have lost prospective qualified faculty and administrative candidates to other institutions that do offer such benefits. We have also lost faculty who have been recruited away by Universities that offer these benefits. It is untenable that at a first rate university that is aspiring to be one of the very best in the country we still do not offer equal pay for equal work in the form of benefits.

We urge you to extend these benefits. They will bring Maryland up to the standard of her peers, they will promote a climate of inclusiveness, and they will help with our recruitment and retention of top-notch faculty and students.

Cc: President C. Daniel Mote
Chancellor Donald N. Langdenberg
Members, President’s Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues