For years, gay rights advocates have pushed administrators to provide tuition, health, dental and life insurance benefits to same-sex partners.

With a recent string of national and local gay rights victories, OUTReach, a UA networking group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender faculty and staff, the Diversity Council, and other campus groups have decided to reinvigorate the campaign.

"The people working on this have been patient, quiet and easy, and it is appropriate for us at this moment to move forward with this," said Ken Foster, head of UAPresents and former chair of the Diversity Action Council. "All the barriers are down now, and there is nothing to stop us."

Earlier this summer, gay rights advocates approached the administration with a petition filled with nearly 200 faculty and staff signatures requesting the same benefits for domestic partners that married partners receive from the university.

Beyond the normal health and dental benefits, spouses and children of UA employees receive a 50 percent reduction in tuition.

These efforts come on the heels of the repeal of anti-sodomy laws by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this summer, said Fenton Johnson, professor of creative writing and member of OUTReach.

In addition, in late June, Gov. Janet Napolitano issued an executive order that bars state job discrimination based on sexual orientation.

One week later the Tucson City Council adopted a domestic partner registry, a highly symbolic gesture that gives gay couples the right to be recognized as a family for purposes of hospital visitation and city services.

The city provides domestic partner benefits for all its employees, said Neal Dorschel, organizational consultant for the UA human resources department.

"The university is putting itself at a major disadvantage," Johnson said. "If we don't offer benefits the university won't be able to recruit and retain employees."

Domestic partner benefits are not a rarity, with six out of the 10 universities in the Pacific-10 Conference offering them to employees.

Several private companies in Tucson, such as Raytheon, also provide these benefits, Dorschel added.

"We are standing alone out here," Dorschel said. "It is really affecting our recruiting capability."

The UA has a non-discriminatory policy based on the sexual orientation of its employees, but many feel that the absence of benefits is in violation of this policy.

"There is still a gap between what they say and what they do," said Miranda Joseph, associate professor of women's studies and member of the Diversity Coalition.

This affects how gays and lesbians working in higher education view the university when looking for employment, Johnson said.

"When I was offered a job at the UA, the first step was to see if the UA included gays and lesbians in its non-discriminatory policy," Johnson said. "It was there but the protections are meaningless unless implemented."

President Peter Likins said that the UA is in compliance with its non-discriminatory policy.

Although he would like to provide benefits, he said his hands are tied by the state, which does not recognize same-sex marriages.

The implementation of domestic partner health benefits would most likely require the state legislature's approval because as a public university, UA receives its funding from the state, Likins said.

"If same-sex marriages were permissible, benefits would follow automatically," Likins said.

If the UA were to give benefits to domestic partners, it would cost approximately $255,000 annually and would include approximately 85 to 100 UA employees, Dorschel said.

Likins said that the lack of domestic partner benefits does put the UA at a disadvantage and would like to see domestic partner benefits move forward.

In fact, in the Diversity Action Plan, released by Likins last year, providing domestic partner benefits was listed as a long-term step to help make the UA a more diverse campus.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) supporters, including Gov. Janet Napalitano, hope to ask the Arizona Department of Administration to change its definition of dependents to include domestic partners.

Changing the definition allows for domestic partners to receive the same benefits as married couples without seeking the approval of a conservative legislature, said Dorschel.

Despite all the potential obstacles, Likins said that he would like to see tuition reimbursement for domestic partners come within the next year because administrators recently received more authority from the Arizona Board of Regents to determine who receives tuition waivers, Likins said.

"The year that lies ahead is the year that we should attempt to get tuition benefits for domestic partners," Likins said. "This is only half the battle, but it is a very successful step."

However in order to give tuition benefits, Likins said the UA would face the dilemma of defining who qualifies as a domestic partner, which worries those who believe that a lax definition would open the door to fraud.

"We can't give benefits to people who are just living with their girlfriends," Likins said.

The administration plans to meet with LGBT supporters next week to discuss a change in the definition of a dependent.

"This issue is really out of our hands at this point," Dorschel said. "We encourage the administration to get this to move ahead."