The program allows same sex and unmarried partners of city employees to receive the same Texas health insurance benefits as other municipal workers and their dependents. Domestic partner benefits have been a source of controversy since the council started talking about them last summer.
Employees signed up so their unmarried heterosexual or gay partners can receive taxpayer funded Texas health insurance benefits. But to opponents of domestic partners benefits, the issue was never just about money.
Tom Brown, pastor of Word of Life Church, said a group he has helped to organize will continue trying to overturn the new Texas health insurance benefits. Brown’s group plans to launch a new petition drive soon. The goal is to bring the issue to a citywide vote and stop the use of public money to finance Texas health insurance benefits for unmarried people.