Better Late Than Never

Gregg Lombardi - Executive Director

As of Tuesday this week, Legal Aid is now doing something that we should have done long ago. We are beginning the process of recognizing that any two people who are committed to each other as a family should be treated as a family.

So, effective this week, we have started domestic partners coverage under our health insurance policy. If a staff member lives with and is committed to a partner, that staff member now has the same right to obtain health insurance for that partner as she or he would if the couple were legally married.


The policy applies regardless of whether the partners are of the same or opposite gender. We will be looking at other ways of recognizing domestic partners, including changing our dental insurance and leave policies because couples who are fully committed to each other should receive the same respect and treatment regardless of whether the commitment is to the same or the opposite gender.

SCOTUS Rulings Bring Us Closer to Justice for All

Gregg Lombardi - Executive Director

 

If Justice for All means anything, it should mean that the law should treat everyone equally and should not favor or punish a group of people for things that are beyond their reasonable control.

In the last century, our country has made impressive progress towards equality based on gender, race, national origin, religion and disability. Before yesterday, however, federal law openly, blatantly and intentionally discriminated against millions of Americans based solely on their sexual orientation.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court rulings will stop a good deal of that discrimination. And while we still have a long way to go to reach equality on all of the numerous forms of our historic discrimination, I’m excited that our Supreme Court had the wisdom and courage to bring us one step closer to truly having Justice for All.