Sep 05, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR  | COMMENTS     

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate, strongly opposes domestic partner benefits for Alaska’s state employees, even though she vetoed a bill to block same-sex partners from receiving the benefits.

Officials with Log Cabin Republicans and National Stonewall Democrats, the nation’s largest gay GOP and gay Democratic groups, offered sharply differing views this week on Palin’s gay rights record as the groups jumped into the political fray over a vice presidential pick that surprised leaders of both parties.

“Governor Palin is an inclusive Republican who will help Sen. McCain appeal to gay and lesbian voters,” said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. “She’s a mainstream Republican who will unite the party and serve John McCain well as vice president.”

But John Marble, spokes-person for National Stone-wall Democrats, called Palin a “champion of anti-LGBT special interests.” Marble noted her 1998 support of a state constitutional amendment approved by voters that bans gay marriage and her 2006 opposition to domestic partner benefits for state employees.

Palin, 44, is the first woman to be named as a vice presidential candidate by the Republican Party. She is a self-described maverick who shook up the Republican Party in Alaska by unseating a fellow GOP governor, Frank Murkowski, in the 2006 Republican primary and defeated a Democratic former governor, Tony Knowles, in the general election.

During her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Palin revealed her approach to certain gay issues in a questionnaire for Eagle Forum Alaska, a conservative group.

Among other questions, the group asked, “Will you support an effort to expand hate crime laws?” Palin responded, “No, as I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.”

She also answered a question about extending spousal benefits to domestic partners. That question asked, “Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples?” Palin responded, “No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.”

Another question asked Palin for her priorities “in relationship to families.” The second priority she listed was “preserving the definition of ‘marriage’ as defined in our constitution.”

The questionnaire also asked whether candidates would support funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs, an issue that hits close to home for Palin, whose 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant.

Her response: “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”

Prior to being elected governor, Palin served as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla, which has fewer than 10,000 residents. She started her career as a sports reporter for an Anchorage television station after receiving a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. In 1984 she was named Miss Congeniality and first runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant.

She is married to Todd Palin, a native Yup’ik Eskimo who works as an oil field production operator
in the state’s oil rich North Slope. The couple has five children.

Palin’s position on domestic partner benefits is being closely scrutinized by gay activists, with some gay Republicans praising her decision to veto a bill aimed at blocking the partner benefits from taking effect.

The benefits issue became a political hot potato in Alaska in 2005, when the state’s Supreme Court ordered the state to provide the same health and pension benefits to domestic partners of state employees that were available to the employees’ married spouses. The court’s decision, which stemmed from a 1999 lawsuit filed by several same-sex couples, found that the equal protection clause of the Alaska Constitution required that same-sex partners of state employees receive benefits equal to those received by married employees.

Palin won election as governor in November 2006. Under Alaska’s election law, she took office in December 2006 — less than a month before a Jan. 1, 2007, deadline imposed by the court for implementing the same-sex partner benefits.

Shortly before Palin took the oath of office as governor, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill that defied the high court ruling by prohibiting the Alaska Commissioner of Administration from providing the health and pension benefits to same-sex couples. The legislature also passed a separate bill that called for a non-binding, advisory ballot measure asking voters whether the state should adopt a constitutional amendment overturning the court’s decision on the partner benefits.

On Dec. 20, 2006, in one of her first legislative acts, Palin signed the bill calling for the advisory ballot measure, saying it would lay the groundwork for a state constitutional ban on the partner benefits.

Eight days later, on Dec. 28, 2006, she vetoed the bill seeking to block the benefits from being offered to same-sex partners ...