Catholic Charities continues railing against DC gay marriage by dropping spousal benefits for all newlyweds and new hires
New employees and current employees requesting revisions in benefit coverage will be affected by this change. Catholic Charities will continue to honor the health plan coverage that current employees have as of March 1, 2010. As of March 2, a new plan will be in effect that will cover new employees and requests for benefit changes by current employees. The new plan will provide the same level of coverage for employees and their dependents that you now have, with one exception: spouses not in the plan as of March 1, will not be eligible for coverage in the future.
Portion of a Catholic Charities memo as posted by the Washington City Paper and Washington Post. Gay marriage applications are to begin moving forward in Washington, DC this Wednesday, March 3, 2010. And it appears, by the timing, that Catholic Charities is trying to cut off equal treatment for spouses of its own gay employees before they are legally required to provide it. (Washington City Paper) (Washington Post)
Catholic Charities campaigned against gay marriage in 2009 by telling media outlets and DC Councilmembers that their organization would not extend spousal benefits to same-sex couples who become legally married. The District will require Catholic Charities as an employer to provide equal benefits for all of its legally married employees. Catholic Charities, under the direction of the Archdiocese of Washington, publicly bemoaned the Council’s intentions before Members voted to allow gay marriage this past December. Shortly after Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the new bill in January of 2010, the Church announced that they would stop offering foster care services through Catholic Charities. Many media outlets hyped their announcement by calling their action “fallout” and “ramifications” of gay marriage legalization. And they failed to emphasize that only 40-some wards of the city would be affected. Those children’s cases will simply be transferred to another city-authorized agency. The Catholic Church has tried, in many ways, to influence the political process here in DC — having its representatives complain ad nauseum about being “forced” to comply with public law, when in fact, it is their choice to request millions of dollars in public funds for the public services they claim they provide.
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