Linking state university faculty same-sex benefits to benefits for other state workers was a key compromise that enabled both sides to reach a tentative settlement in February 2004.

During negotiations, the university system's administration said it wasn't feasible to offer same-sex benefits, citing budget constraints. Consultants to the administration estimated at the time the benefits would cost an additional $600,000 to $1.2 million a year, system spokesman Tom Gluck said.

"Because our fiscal situation overall was a very challenging one, and health care costs in particular ... to expand benefits in any way to more people for more services, this was not the time to do that,'' Gluck said.

Nearly 300 colleges and universities nationwide provide some form of domestic-partner benefits, including 23 in Pennsylvania, according to Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights advocacy group. They include Penn State University, Temple University, and the University of Pittsburgh, which receive state funding but are not state-owned.

The state system's faculty union is concerned that not offering same-sex benefits puts the universities at a competitive disadvantage, union president Patricia Heilman said.

"The pressure is even more intense for us to obtain domestic-partner benefits, because we actually compete with Pitt, Penn State and Temple for faculty,'' Heilman said.

Daryl Herrschaft, a Human Rights Campaign spokesman, acknowledged that same-sex benefits can be a touchy issue at taxpayer-funded public colleges and universities. But he also noted that some of the nation's largest public systems provide them, including the University of California and the State University of New York.

— Associated Press