Supreme Court Rules on Same-Sex Marriage: Johns Hopkins Medicine Continues Support

Dear Colleagues:

Over the last several months, our country—and Baltimore—has experienced many obstacles, impacting the current divides between people. On Friday, we were pleased to hear the Supreme Court's ruling that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, stating:

"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

This news brings us one step closer to equal rights for all. As an institution, we endeavor to promote diversity and inclusion for all of our employees, students, patients and community members. This creates an organization that recognizes gender, race, religion, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation as imperative influences of our community. As a health care organization, we want to provide the best possible health care for our patients. As an employer, we want to recruit, hire and retain the best. We strive to make Johns Hopkins the kind of place where people want to work. In our commitment to our employees, same-sex domestic partners have been extended the same benefits and privileges offered to spouses and their dependent children. The coverage extends to medical and dental care, dependent life insurance and dependent personal accident insurance, tuition grant and tuition remission, and leave time under the Family and Medical Leave Act, among other benefits.

But there is still more to do. We encourage you to have a dialogue with us and share your accomplishments and challenges, and let us know what else we should do.

Congratulations to our colleagues and friends in the LGBT community.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Windsor
Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Johns Hopkins Medicine

James E. Page Jr., M.B.A.
Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion
Chief Diversity Officer
Johns Hopkins Medicine