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At its recent meeting, February 26—28, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions approved extending benefits to the partners in same-gender relationships, a first in the life of any Lutheran denomination.
Emily Eastwood, Executive Director, Lutherans Concerned / North America, said, “This historic decision is indeed worthy of celebration. The action sets committed same-gender relationships on a more equal footing in critical areas of family life: health care, retirement, survivor, and disability benefits.“
Eric Peterson, a member of the Synod Council, South Central Synod of Wisconsin, was present at the Board of Pensions meeting, and commented, “For many years, our synod has advocated for changes to the plans offered by the church, such as the simple unbundling of health and retirement plans for lay employees in committed same-gender relationships. This weekend, the board unanimously took even further steps and opened the door for same-gender partners to not only receive benefits but live more fully together in the life of the church. The board’s policy commitment to treating same-gender partners as spouses in the plans, as far as the law allows, is the kind of parity we have sought for so long. I join with many others in offering thanks to the trustees and leadership of the Board of Pensions.”
The Board of Pensions is a nonprofit corporation based in Minnesota, which provides retirement, health and related benefits and services to enhance the well-being of nearly 50,000 pastors, rostered laypersons, employees and their families. The decision of the Board means that the LGBT partners in committed, same-gender relationships with ministers or employees of ELCA congregations, synods or churchwide offices will be treated the same as heterosexual partners to the extent federal and state laws allow. The policy once put into practice will prove the test to what level of equality has truly been enacted.
At this point, prior to the actions of the April ELCA Church Council meeting, according to the Board of Pensions, to qualify for partner benefits, those in a same-gender relationship must avail themselves of the highest public commitment possible, be that marriage, civil union, civil partnership, domestic partnership, or other form of public commitment, legal and available in the state of residence. Where no form of official public recognition is available, an affidavit attesting to the committed relationship signed by the bishop in the case of ministers or the head of the congregation or other institution in the case of lay employees is required.
Emily Eastwood said, “To achieve fuller equality, changes in federal and most state laws will be required. While legal marriage is currently available to same-gender partners in Massachusetts (2004), Connecticut (2008), Iowa (2009), Vermont (2009), New Hampshire (2010), and Washington, D.C. (effective March 3, 2010) and a federal court case regarding marriage in California is now preparing for closing arguments, we have a long way to go before same-gender marriage is the law of the land. Lutherans Concerned remains committed to LGBT equality in church and society.”
The decision of the Board of Pensions is effective pending the actions by the ELCA Church Council on Vision and Expectations (V&E) and Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline (D&G). The Church Council meets in early April. It is unclear what impact, if any, that differences in guidelines discussed by the Conference of Bishops and finally approved by the Church Council will have on the Board’’s actions.
The specifics of the action of Board of Pensions are available on the ELCA website in the “Proposed Board of Pensions Documents” section.
Draft documents from the Unit for Vocation and Education, available on the same webpage, do not at present include the requirement of legal recognition or a signed affidavit attesting to the nature of the relationship.
The Board of Pensions states in its Summary memo that it expects to have benefit changes up and running within 30 days of the Church Council completing its actions.
The ELCA Pension and Other Benefits Program provides health, retirement, disability and survivor benefits presented as one comprehensive program to members. Benefit plans are governed and administered individually through separate plan documents. The ELCA Board of Pensions maintains the following plans: ELCA Retirement Plan, ELCA Disability Benefits Plan, ELCA Survivor Benefits Plan, ELCA Health Benefits Plan (which includes the ELCA post-retirement medical benefits obligation) and ELCA Flexible Benefits Plan.
Those ministers and employees of the ELCA, its congregations and institutions who are eligible to be or are currently covered by the Board of Pensions, and are in a committed, lifelong, same-gender relationship, who wish additional information should contact their Board of Pensions representative or the Board directly by calling (800) 352-2876. |
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