US: Pueblo council postpones bill giving equal insurance rights to same-sex couples
A council in the US city of Pueblo, Colorado, voted to indefinitely postpone a bill which would have allowed gay city employees to add their partners to their city insurance benefits.
Councillor Sandy Daff, of Pueblo City Council, introduced the bill two weeks ago, and had much support from those in attendance at the council meeting, but very little from the other councillors, who voted 5-1 to postpone the bill.
When this was voted upon, catcalls from an angry audience meant that a police officer was forced to ask a member to leave, and to calm the situation.
Fellow Democrat, Councillor Chris Nicoll, proposed that the bill be postponed indefinitely, and afterwards said that the economy was the reason it was not suitable for consideration:
“Given our budget situation, I don’t think we should be incurring more costs,” Councillor Nicoll said, reported Cheftain.com.
Councillor Daff even voted to have the bill postponed, in a tactic which meant that she could potentially re-introduce it in future. Afterwards, she made a statement expressing her surprise about the bill’s lack of support:
“I’m new to this I guess,” Daff conceded. “I thought I had commitments of at least four votes of support. But I will bring this back.”
