Wisconsin Green Party
wisconsingreenparty.org
July 17th, 2005
Contacts:
Jill Bussiere, Co-Spokesperson, WIGP, 920.388.0529 spokespersons@wisconsingreenparty.org
Dennis Bergren, 608-839-4060
Greens Offer Universal Health Care as a
Solution Instead of Discrimination Against Gay and Lesbian Citizens.
Cottage Grove, Green Bay, Watertown, Caledonia,
Hobart, and Oostburg as well as the school boards in New Berlin and
Raymond have joined together to fight a lawsuit filed by the ACLU
seeking health benefits for partners of gay state employees.
"We sympathize with businesses and local
governments who are feeling the immense pressures of having to bear
the costs of our inadequate and inefficient private health care
system," said Jill Bussiere, Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Green
Party. "At the same time, they should recognize that the costs to
provide the benefits to gay and lesbian couples are far less than one
percent of health care expenses. We absolutely support the right for
domestic partners to receive the same benefits as their married
co-workers, regardless of their sexual orientation. Instead of
discriminating against gays and lesbians, a better solution would be
universal health care, thus ensuring that all citizens would be
adequately cared for."
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the
lawsuit in April under the equal protection clause of the Wisconsin
Constitution on behalf of six state workers.
Legal services are being provided to Green Bay,
Watertown, the towns of Caledonia and Cottage Grove, the villages of
Hobart and Oostburg; and school boards in New Berlin and Raymond, by
First Freedoms Foundation, a Waukesha based conservative legal group.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian group based in
Arizona, is hoping to represent Republicans in the Legislature in this
case.
"I'm a gay taxpayer in the town of Cottage
Grove and I'm outraged that our board would join a lawsuit with the
extreme right wing and hateful elements of our society who have made
it one of their goals to write gay and lesbian families and people out
of the law and its legal protections," said Dennis Bergren, a
Wisconsin Green. "People are people and should be treated equally
and fairly. Have the elected officials in each of these localities
consulted with any of their constituents before doing this?"
The Wisconsin Greens support the efforts of the
Coalition for Wisconsin Health, a collection of more than 60
organizations from farm, labor, disability, faith-based, and senior
organizations dedicated to providing health care as a fundamental
right. The aim of the group is to provide comprehensive health care
for every Wisconsin resident.
The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the
Green Party of the United States, and stands on the four pillars of
Social & Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and
Ecological Wisdom.
For more information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org.
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org.
The Coalition for Wisconsin Health http://www.wisconsinhealth.org.
