By JAN GLIDEWELL
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 24, 2001
Iseldom find myself inspired by anything done by any politician, but Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth met the requirements last week when he authorized a $25,000 payment from a victims' compensation fund to Mickie Mashburn, the life partner of slain Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.
We we have been praised by some and taken to task by others for dealing with the issue, but a natural question to ask when a tragedy such as Marrero's death takes place is whether the slain officer left a family and if so, how many and in what circumstances.
When it turned out that part of Marrero's family was her companion of 10 years, Tampa Police Detective Mashburn, the question of pension benefits was quick to follow.
Although she has hired an attorney to field telephone calls and to assess her position, Mashburn has remained classy silent in public on the issue of whether she is entitled to benefits.
Others, however, have been quick to grab the flag and run with it, making it a political issue in the arena of gay rights.
And, although I think gay men and lesbians should have the right to marry and be entitled to the same benefits as heterosexual couples, the sad truth is that the major effect of this case will be changing, or at least trying to change, the law so that future life partners will not have the same difficulties.
But Butterworth didn't jerk around with blather about nuclear families and precedents and How God Wants Us To Behave.
He simply, as was in his power, did the right thing and recognized that loss and grief and sorrow do not draw the line at sexual orientation when someone's (heretofore private) life is torn wide open.
And Butterworth is well within the law. While other laws and rules might deny gay life partners their rights to be treated the same as anyone else suffering a loss, the guidelines for the crime victims fund, administered by Butterworth's office are different.
They allow payment to "another person" dependent on the income of the victim, to receive the benefit.
Nature of relationship aside, I know as a widower how important even the smallest of benefits can be. I draw a small pension because my wife was a government employee, and it has made a major difference in my ability to get on with my life.
Even the noblest of gestures these days will draw criticism, especially from those who make it their business to know who makes love with whom and under what conditions.
Some will see it as political posturing for a rumored (but nowhere near confirmed) gubernatorial race.
That's absurd.
Recognition of same-sex partnerships has been the subject of legislation introduced in both the 1999 and 2000 legislatures, and died quietly in committee both times.
Gay rights and whether to recognize them has been a matter of bitter contention and dispute in Hillsborough County in both the courts and at polling places for the past decade. Taking action deemed friendly to the gay community is by no means a political slam-dunk in the Tampa Bay area or in Florida in general.
The concept of adding sexual orientation to the existing list of why you can't discriminate against people (and isn't it weird that we need such a list) is an issue ignored as much as possible by politicians during election years, at least by the ones who plan on getting elected.
And there are those who will say that Butterworth, leaving office because of term limits, was able to take the action because of his lame-duck status.
Call me Pollyanna if you will (brief pause while lots of people scream "POLLYANNA!" in four-part harmony) but maybe there is a third alternative.
Maybe it is the political equivalent of "Dog Bites Man."
Maybe he just did it because it is the right thing to do, and he is a good guy.