Dallas County Adds Domestic Partner Benefits As Commissioner Maurine Dickey Calls Lesbian Activist a 'He'

Dallas County Adds Domestic Partner Benefits As Commissioner Maurine Dickey Calls Lesbian Activist a "He"

By Eric Nicholson Tue., Oct. 30 2012 at 11:56 AM

Maurine Dickey

This morning, Dallas County joined the growing roster of local agencies (the city of Dallas, Parkland Hospital, the DFW Airport) to add domestic partner benefits, meaning same-sex partners of any of its roughly 6,500 employees are now eligible for health coverage and other benefits through the county.

The measure squeaked by on a 3-2 party-line vote, with County Judge Clay Jenkins joining his fellow Democrats Elba Garcia and John Wiley Price in approving the benefits, while Maurine Dickey and Mike Cantrell voted against.

Why Dickey and Cantrell opposed the benefits wasn't addressed in my Twitter feed or the Voice brief wrap-up. Cantrell previously called the measure a political agenda meant to curry favor with certain voters.

What was addressed was a bit of gender confusion related to lesbian activist C.d. Kirven.

@dallasvoice Comm. Dickey just called CD Kirven a "he" over and over not wanting pictures taken of her? Comm. Price correct Dickey.
— Omar Narvaez (@ActivistOmar) October 30, 2012

Dickey reportedly proceeded to don sunglasses and cover her face even though, per Brett Shipp, Kirven was only trying to photograph one of the guest speakers.

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CraigT42

I don't agree with Dickey's vote or her logic behind her vote but lets not focus too much on her confusing the gender of Ms. Kirven. Looking at the picutre linked in this post Ms Kirven seems to go out of her way to appear more masculine. That is certainly her right and I do not judge her for it, but she then loses some credibility if she gets upset over someone getting confused.