New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg recently sued to try to stop a law that will expand benefits for domestic partners. But a judge ruled against the city and the decision is being appealed. While the legal battles are being resolved, the law will proceed. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez looks at the impact of the law.

Some have described mayor Bloomberg's opposition to the law as confusing given that hundreds of companies already offer domestic partner benefits including Bloomberg LP:

BLOOMBERG: I happen to believe everyone should be treated exactly equally my company has offered domestic partner benefits the city offers domestic partner benefits but I do not believe that the city should use in its procurement policies the power of its purchasing power of its dollars to promote social issues. There's just no place that's going to stop. And particularly when we have a three billion dollar deficit the city just has to be able to buy things at the best price.

The law will apply to any business that was awarded or renewed a contract for 100-thousand dollars or more from October 26th on. The city says it does not know how many businesses this will effect. But several groups that represent small businesses say any extra costs incurred by their members will have a negative impact. Nancy Ploeger is the president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. She says for her, this is not a social issue but strictly financial:

PLOEGER: What the city, state and federal government do not take into consideration is ….they don't realize that a small business owner is already paying xyz taxes with the city , abc taxes with the state and lmnop taxes with the federal government and they all compound so that every time that a new regulation is put into place that adds another financial burden on the small business.

But proponents of the law counter that argument by saying companies that offer domestic partner benefits have higher retention rates and therefore are more profitable and successful. Ploeger agrees.

For many though the law is not about economics. Leslie Thrope is an attorney who used to represent members of 32bj, a large service workers union. She worked there for 8 years and quit at the end of 2003 after her employer refused to provide health benefits for her partner who at the time was battling cancer and had to quit her job. Instead the couple had to pay a 700 healthcare premium:

THROPE: Every month your reminded that people don't consider us a family. I'm writing out that cobra check to pay for her health benefits knowing that this is a check that A could be used to help our family and B is something that my colleagues don't have to do and it makes you feel unequal, less valued and essentially discriminated against.

Thrope was also denied family leave to care for her dying partner. She says the result was devastating:

THROPE: Two of the last three weeks of Dominiques life were really spent by my having to fight with my employer for what should be a basic human right. Those are three weeks that they will never be able to give back to me.

32bj now supports the newly enacted city law.

MILLER : The mayor says that he opposes this legislation because he doesn't believe we should use the contracting laws to promote social issues. This is not a social issue. Equal rights is not a social issue.

The Mayor's decision to fight the law could prove damaging during his bid for re-election. During a recent press conference, City council speaker Gifford Miller who will likely run against harshly criticized Bloomberg as did a power gay rights group. And Matt Foremen, a gay appointee to the city's Human Rights Commission resigned from his position last month. Foreman heads the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and says unlike other more experienced politicians, Bloomberg lacks an understanding of the gay community:

MILLER: The Mayor needs to have more points of access from the gay community to himself and to his admin. We had more ways to get to Ed Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudy Guiliani than we do Mayor Bloomberg.

A mayoral spokesman has said the administration's decision to fight the newly enacted law has nothing to do with his commitment to equal rights and benefits for domestic partners.

The Bloomberg administration has lost the first round of legal battles over the law and has been ordered to enforce it. The city's law department says its confident an appeals court will reverse that decision.