On Monday, the Indianapolis City-County Council voted 20-8 in favor of providing benefits to domestic partners of city employees, including lesbian and gay partners. The measure requires approval from Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who said he is unsure of whether or not he will veto the proposal. Council member Angela Mansfield, the chief architect of the proposal, commented on the vote, saying, “The importance of the message being sent is that we as a community recognize equal benefits to everybody. A lot of large universities and corporations within Indianapolis already offer these to their employees.” The cities of Bloomington and Carmel already offer partner benefits to all city workers.
GLAAD congratulates advocates in Indianapolis and encourages the local media to continue sharing stories of how the lack of partner benefits negatively affects lesbian and gay families in Indianapolis as the proposal moves before Mayor Ballard.