FLORIDA: State Agencies Fall In Line

Via the Miami Herald:

Among the first tangible signs that Florida government has accepted that gay couples can be legally married: Same-sex spouses of state employees are now eligible for state coverage for health insurance and retirement benefits. “Employees whose marriages will be legally recognized in Florida as of Jan. 6, 2015, have a qualifying status change event window between Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, through Friday, March 6, 2015, to enroll in a family plan,” reads a memo to state agency and university personnel officers and benefit coordinators from Suzetta Furlong, operations chief of the Florida Department of Management Services.

“God, I hope nobody is surprised that state officials now are following the judge’s order. That’s their duty,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, which represented LGBT-rights group SAVE and eight same-sex couples who sued Florida to recognize their out-of-state marriages. “This is what our case was all about, affecting the lives of real families and real people in Florida,” Simon said. “It was always all about protecting and strengthening families. Health insurance, pensions, all the things for which opposite-sex couples get married to and enjoy. They are implementing what they've been ordered to do.”

RELATED: Last week grocery giant Publix, the state's largest privately-held employer, extended all benefits to the legal spouses of LGBT employees regardless of where they got married.