She risks her life for us, but we deny care for her partner

Juliet Draper is gay. She is a Colorado Springs firefighter. On any given day, she could ride out from Station No. 3 and be killed or hurt while protecting property and families.

Her domestic partner of 15 years, Pam Jones, faces some big medical bills because she had a cyst removed recently. Jones, 53, once had health insurance coverage through Draper’s employment, but the City Council reversed itself in 2004, less than a year after it had established health care benefits for same-sex partners of city employees.

About two-thirds of the voters in El Paso County apparently agree with that reversal: 65 percent voted against a ballot measure in November 2006 that would have given legal recognition to domestic partnerships.

Opponents of domestic partner benefits insist the notion is part of the radical gay rights agenda.

Look past that rhetoric, and what is unfolding across America is a mainstream recognition that what’s fair is fair.

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is one of 304 colleges that offer domestic-partner benefits. Denver is one of 145 cities on a growing list that also includes more than half of the Fortune 500 companies and 13 states, including that insurgent left-wing hotbed — Iowa, where benefits are offered regardless of sexual orientation.

When she was dropped from Draper’s coverage through the city, Jones had to buy her own health insurance. To keep the monthly premium in the $200 range, she had to agree to a $2,500 deductible provision, which makes it expensive to undergo many routine procedures, including the removal of a benign cyst.

“It would just be nice to take care of Pam because she takes such good care of me,” Draper said.

When the council pulled the rug out, Draper considered moving to Denver, where domestic-partner benefits are offered.

“It’s a tough decision at this point. I’m vested with my retirement benefits,” she explained.

Draper also has passed the lieutenant’s exam and hopes to be promoted someday. Moving to another department would place her at the bottom of the tenure list.

Besides, the two women consider Colorado Springs their home; the place they raised Jones’ daughter from a previous marriage.

When Jones writes the monthly health insurance check, it feels like discrimination. “It’s like unequal pay,” she said.

How do citizens feel about the risks Juliet Draper is taking for them? Is it possible they’re immune from feeling embarrassed about the fact that she puts her life on the line protecting their families while they don’t provide the most basic protection for hers?

No, most people probably haven’t given it that much thought.

This year the Legislature made it illegal for employers to make personnel decisions based on a person’s sexual orientation. With barely a murmur, the city obediently changed its policy on that in late July.

Thus, gays have a right to be in the workplace — and the City Council retains the right to maintain Colorado Springs as a social backwater.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com