San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro
The San Antonio City Council voted 8-3 today to begin offering domestic partner benefits to both gay and straight employees as part of the city’s 2012 budget, according to reports from Equality Texas on Twitter.
The DP benefits, which are expected to cost $300,000 per year, have drawn vocal opposition from anti-gay religious leaders in the Alamo City.
San Antonio, the seventh-largest city in the U.S., will be the fifth city in Texas to offer DP benefits, joining Austin, Dallas, El Paso and Fort Worth.
Council members who voted in favor of DP benefits were Mayor Julian Castro, Diego Bernal, Ivy Taylor, Jennifer Ramos, Rey Saldana, Ray Lopez and Cris Medina. Those who voted against DP benefits were David Medina, Jr, W. Reed Williams, Elisa Chan, & Carlton Soules.
More to come …
UPDATE: Our full story is here.
Correction, it was 8-3 to that passed Domestic Partnership in the budget. The the vote to take it off the budge which was proposed by Elisa Chan that failed by 7-4.
Councilman Reed Willams changed his position on the last vote to include DP in the Budget. (good boy)
Hmmm… “The cost of extending benefits to domestic partners… is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the city’s budget”. Do homeowners want to continue paying higher property taxes to provide free health care for the uninsured? Pastor Gerald Ripley: “We believe marriage is a legally binding relationship between one man and one woman”… “a vote for domestic partner benefits is a vote against upholding the institution of marriage”. Should government enforce the views of a particular religious group? Mayor Julian Castro: “There are not going to be any second class citizens in San Antonio.” Is Relationship Orientation a Requirement for Citizenship?