NEWS

Ozark Fire settles with ACLU over same-sex benefits lawsuit

Harrison Keegan
HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

The Ozark Fire Protection District has reached a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and a former fire captain who sued after the department refused to extend benefits to her wife.

Capt. Andi Mooneyham, who was married to a woman, raised the issue last summer. Mooneyham sought changes to the department’s benefits to allow her wife on the insurance plan.

According to a news release from the ACLU, the Ozark Fire Protection District agreed Wednesday to pay Mooneyham $20,000, and the lawsuit has been dismissed.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of the case,” Mooneyham and her wife said in an email. “It's been an emotional ride, but the support of the ACLU of Missouri, the Springfield community and our family and friends has been wonderful.”

In August 2014, three of the five members of the Ozark Fire Board publicly said they supported the idea of extending benefits to same-sex couples.

They decided, however, to consult an attorney before taking any action.

That attorney, Todd Johnson, told the board members they did not have the right to extend benefits to same-sex couples because Missouri’s constitution said marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

The board decided not to take any action on Mooneyham’s motion.

The Missouri chapter of the ACLU then got involved in the case, saying they disagreed with Johnson’s assessment that the Fire Board was powerless.

When a Jackson County judge ordered in October that same-sex marriages legally performed in other states must be recognized in Missouri, the ACLU sent a letter to the Ozark Fire Board demanding they extend benefits to Mooneyham’s wife, Tara Muck. Monneyham and Muck were married in California.

When that didn’t happen, the ACLU filed a lawsuit.

That lawsuit was settled Wednesday and Mooneyham, who no longer works for the fire protection district, will be paid for the spousal benefits she was denied and also to cover her attorney fees.

“Government employers cannot pick and choose which marriages to recognize,” said Jeffrey A. Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri. “All legal marriages must be treated the same.”

“We believe there is more work to be done for the LGBT community and feel this case has helped bring some of those to light,” Mooneyham and Muck said in an email.

Prominent Springfield defense attorney Dee Wampler sent a letter to Mooneyham and others in September saying he was proud of the Fire Board for not extending benefits to same-sex couples. The letter included language about gay rights being pushed “down our throats.”

Wampler later apologized about the letter.