By Gudrun Schultz
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, December 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Supreme Court order in the state of Alaska has forced the state to begin providing benefits to same-sex partners of state employees, starting Jan. 1, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said while the state will pursue a constitutional amendment that would prevent such benefits by asking citizens to vote on the issue, in the meantime there is no more legal room for a delay on implementing the order.
The Supreme Court issued a warning earlier in the week, ordering the state to act on the ruling passed 14 months ago.
“We believe we have no more judicial options,” Gov. Palin said.
Alaska has fought to keep same-sex benefit rights out of the state in a effort acknowledged as one of the strongest in the country by homosexual activists with the Human Rights Campaign based in Washington, D.C.
“We haven’t seen that kind of defiance by the governor and legislature of a high court ruling, it’s extraordinary,” Carrie Evans, with the HRC, told the AP.
“Some states just grumble. What we saw was Alaska digging in its heels.”
Gov. Paling signed into law a measure calling for a special April election that would ask voters if they supported a constitutional amendment banning state or municipal benefits for same-sex partners.
If the amendment is supported by a significant majority, legislators could then pass a resolution—requiring two-thirds support—that would put the issue before voters in the 2008 election.
The pro-homosexual American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of nine same-sex couples six years ago, arguing that the state’s refusal to provide benefits to same-sex partners was a violation of Alaska’s equality laws.
The case was filed after voters in the Municipality of Anchorage passed a constitutional amendment in 1999 that prohibited state recognition of homosexual marriage. A lower court judge dismissed the case in 2001, and the ACLU then appealed to the higher court.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Alaskan Activist Supreme Court Overturns Law Banning Gay Benefits
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05110405.html