Ozark fire board won't extend same-sex benefits

After half an hour of often-passionate speeches for and against offering benefits for same-sex couples, members of the Ozark Fire Board on Tuesday did exactly what an attorney advised them to do last week — nothing.

Despite majority favor for extending benefits at the last board meeting in August, members were told by attorney Todd Johnson last week that the board doesn't have legal authority to offer the benefits pushed for by the department's female captain, Andi Mooneyham, who is married to a woman.

During Tuesday night's meeting, the motion died on the table with board members acknowledging the decision wasn't theirs to make.

"Legally, we're going to do what we have to do," board member Kenny Martin said. "But I think people that do the same work should have equal benefits. I'll leave it at that."

The only other board member to speak was Anthony Appleton, who read the oath that fire board members take to uphold the Missouri Constitution, which defines marriages as between a man and a woman.

About 40 people attended the meeting. About a dozen made public comments, with an even split of those for and against.

Those against allowing benefits referred to Missouri's definition of marriage, Johnson's legal opinion on the board's authority or Biblical scripture.

Those in favor of allowing benefits mostly acknowledged the board cannot act now, but thanked those who have vocally shown support.

Martin, Jay Johnson and Dale Bittle voiced their support for the motion last month, while Appleton and Jim Bowles said they opposed it.

Mooneyham and board members have acknowledged this is a heated issue, especially in southwest Missouri.

Martin said he's received "nasty, ugly" messages on his phone, after publicly supporting extending benefits, from people who declined to leave their name or number.

"They've said things about my family, my sons and myself," he said. "I'm ashamed of the people who did this."

Todd Johnson's legal opinion, which led to the board's inaction Tuesday, was that the law that gives fire boards in Missouri the authority to offer benefits is specific about whom it includes: employees, spouses and dependents.

Todd Johnson and Stephanie Perkins, deputy director for PROMO, a statewide gay and lesbian advocacy group, both spoke about litigation in Missouri and across the country challenging marriage laws.

Mooneyham has, for now, decided to wait for the result of those legal battles. She read a prepared statement Tuesday.

It said, in part: "We have faith in the justice system to find that Missouri's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage conflicts with the federal law and that one day the definition of a spouse will include same-sex marriages in the state of Missouri. We understand the position of the Ozark Fire Protection District, however, we feel there is also some work that needs to be done to the current state statute that regulates to whom they can offer health coverage."

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, which has led to changes in how the state writes policy in regard to same-sex marriages.

A group of 10 same-sex couples are part of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union pushing for marriage recognition in Missouri.