Extending health care to all members of all kinds of families is not only a measure of basic fairness, it is good business sense.  In their 2007–2008 State of the Workplace report, the Human Rights Campaign reports that in 2008, 83% of Fortune 100 companies offered benefits to domestic partners of their employees.  These employers recognize that treating all families equally and with respect is essential to recruiting and retaining the best and brightest that our nation has to offer.  What is true for these companies is also true for Virginia’s public agencies, including its public colleges and universities.

The proposed regulatory changes use the formula that UVA used to extend gym benefits — the same formula that then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell certified as constitutional — to extend health care benefits to families of all types in state service.  The only shocking thing about this change is that it hasn’t been made already.