EL PASO, Texas -- El Pasoans who who disagree with the decision to provide benefits for unmarried gay and straight partners of city employees presented a petition to City Council Tuesday to get the city representatives to rescind their decision.
Council extended health benefits to unmarried partners of city employees earlier this year.
The group, Parents for Traditional Family Values, who opposed City Council's decision immediately urged council members to change their minds. They only needed 1,500 signatures to get the representatives to discuss the issue again. Instead they said they had more than 4,200 signatures.
Members of the group presented the petition during the public comment portion of the council meeting.
One man made it clear this was a moral debate for them. "Deviant behavior should not be rewarded or financially rewarded."
But a gay advocate said the group is just wrong. "For him to think that we are just promiscuous individuals, then the truth of the matter is he's not getting to know homosexuals, he's taking an ignorant stereotype and utilizing that to send out a message," said Pifas Silva.
The city must verify all of those signatures are from eligible voters before City Council takes up the issue again.
City Council members said they believe the public may not have the right to petition because the measure was not passed as an ordinance but was part of the budget. The city attorney's office is deciding if the petition will be allowed.
If it is, then Council can rescind. If they don't, then the group can gather more signatures to take the issue to the polls.
To get an issue on the ballot, a person needs signatures of 5 percent of registered voters who voted in the last city general election. For the May 2009 election, 30,943 voters cast their ballots, and 5 percent of that total is 1,548 voters.
Right now the city is in its healthcare enrollment period, so we will not know how many employees sign up for the benefits until the end of November.
