The University of Arizona's Middle Finger to Gov. Jan Brewer

Who knew that when Barack Obama was elected President, it would be such good news for Jan Brewer. Indeed, Brewer owes her rise to the Arizona Governor's mansion to President Obama, who paved the way for Brewer's ascension by appointing former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary. Since early 2009, when Brewer took over the reins as Arizona's chief executive, she's been on a mission to seemingly become the bane of progressives everywhere.

In recent weeks, of course, Brewer became a national name for signing one of the most repressive immigration laws in the country, essentially legalizing racial profiling in the state of Arizona. Because of Brewer's authorization, Arizona law enforcement officers can now pull over anyone at their own discretion to grill them about their immigration status.

Gov. Brewer followed that up by signing a bill that eliminated ethnic studies programs within Arizona schools (that move drew a rebuke from United Nations experts, who suggested that Gov. Brewer was trying to rob students of the right to learn about their, or others', cultural heritage). Brewer of course topped this all off with a royal cherry — by calling on President Obama to send military drones down to Arizona to patrol the Arizona/Mexico border.

But long before Brewer was running over the rights of people of color and huffing and puffing about immigration, she was also targeting Arizona's gay and lesbian population. Right after taking over for former Governor Napolitano, Brewer signed legislation that dismantled a domestic partnership program in Arizona that allowed state employees to extend benefits to their domestic partners, as well as their children. She did this by switching up the word "dependent," so that it meant only those spouses or children that were products of straight folks (or, in other words, "traditional marriage").

The move drew outrage from many around the state, including folks from the University of Arizona, which were dramatically impacted by Brewer's decision to redefine family. Liz Sawyer, an employee at the school and a spokesperson for a staff group, OUTReach, that works on behalf of LGBT rights, called Brewer's move "deplorable" and "tragic." After all, this was a callous move by Brewer to swipe benefits away from men, women and children.

Now, with Brewer's law set to go into effect October 1, the University of Arizona has responded by setting up a program that will allow University employees to extend certain benefits to their same-sex partners, including vision, dental and medical care. That has Sawyer and OUTReach smiling.

"It's really nice to know that even though the state is not committed to equality, our university is. This administration has been so supportive of the LGTB (lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual) community. We're just all breathing a huge sigh of relief," Sawyer said, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

Kudos to the University of Arizona for showing that Gov. Brewer's homophobia didn't have to be the last word on this subject. The new plan at the University doesn't rely on state funding, either, so there's likely little Brewer can do to prevent this from taking shape.

Back when Brewer dismantled the domestic partnership program, she also went on record saying that God had pre-destined her to be Governor of Arizona, so that she could help the state "weather its troubles." Hey, who knows, maybe that bodes well for Brewer. Because the last politician to say that God pre-destined them for office became the 43rd President of the United States. And we all know how that works out for everybody...

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons