The University of Georgia moved a step closer to allowing unmarried employees to put their significant others on some types of insurance when the executive committee of the University Council approved domestic partner benefits Thursday.

Here's a copy of the proposal, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution column by UGA Faculty Council Chairwoman Janet Frick and news articles from the GLBT newspaper Georgia Voice, The Red & Black (link) and the Athens Banner-Herald (the commenters are, of course, horrified).

The proposal would apply to all unmarried employees in committed relationships, whether gay or straight. Three-quarters of UGA's peer institutions already offer some form of domestic partner benefits, including five colleges in Georgia. Based on the 63 employees who signed up at the University of Florida, it would cost about $378,000. Tax money wouldn't be spent on the benefits, although a specific source of funding hasn't been identified, leading some committee members to object.

The full council will vote Sept. 27, putting the ball in President Michael Adams' court. Three previous attempts at domestic partner benefits never even made it this far, and perhaps Adams will be willing to pick a political fight and approve it, since he's retiring next year.

The blog Georgia Tipsheet asked U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a Democrat in a conservative East Georgia district, what he thought of the proposal. Barrow gave a nonanswer that will probably get him trouble anyway. “I believe that marriage is a union between a man and a woman,” he said. “However, under the 10th amendment to the Constitution, it’s up to the states to decide whether to extend equal benefits as a form of equal pay.”