Omaha cop union rips antigay mayor, Jean Stothert, for refusing benefits to legally-married same sex spouses

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Jean Stothert to LGBTs in 2012:

"You don't have to be in a protected class to be important to us and for us to
want to provide for your health and your safety and your security at work." 

Jean Stothert to LGBTs in 2013:

"...the city's health insurance summary plan descriptions make clear that
the definition of 'spouse' does not include same-sex married spouses.”

The Omaha World-Herald reports that Mayor Stothert's administration has asserted, in a Wednesday press release, that its review has “determined the city's health insurance summary plan descriptions make clear that the definition of 'spouse' does not include same-sex married spouses.”

    Stothert claimed, “We have an obligation to negotiate with all seven collective bargaining units should they desire to expand health care and dental benefits to same-sex spouses.”
     Police Union President John Wells isn't buying Sothert's duplicitous insinuation that her hands are tied and that officials need to go back to the bargaining table to extend benefits to same-sex couples:

     Because the city is self-insured, he said, it retains the right to set its own health plan descriptions and definitions.
     Wells said the added benefits would affect a handful of his union's members and result in a “negligible” cost to the city.
     “(City officials have) decided that they're not going to do the right thing by these folks, that they're going to play politics,” he said. “Most other corporations and other entities have these types of benefits in their health care plan.”

Below (click to enlarge) is part of a letter Wells sent to the Stothert Administration:

 

     GOP Mayor Stothert has never publicly opposed any antigay policy or law nor has she ever publicly proposed any policy or law that ensured equal treatment of LGBTs.

     In 2012, a disingenuous, then-councilwoman Stothert argued (in vain) against adopting subsequently-passed extensions to Omaha's civil rights provisions covering LGBTs; in doing so, she told LGBTs in the City Council Chamber (with a straight face) that her alternative, a nonbinding resolution, proved "You don't have to be in a protected class to be important to us and for us to want to provide for your health and your safety and your security at work."