Omaha library director's new job a 'great opportunity,' but he says Nebraska's gay rights stance...

[Omaha Steve]

X post in LGBT

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/omaha-library-director-s-new-job-a-great-opportunity-but/article_ccdb0036-3c5d-5bfd-974f-490c56190543.html



BRENDAN SULLIVAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Omaha Library Director Gary Wasdin, left, and his partner, Luis Boggio, have been together for 10 years and after a move to Seattle will be able to get married where they live. Wasdin said Omahans were welcoming and kind, but the state’s gay marriage ban weighed on him.

POSTED: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 1:00 AM
By Roseann Moring / World-Herald staff writer

Gary Wasdin was lured from the top Omaha Public Library job by the chance to work at one of the best library systems in the country — in a state where he could marry his partner.

Wasdin, who became the face of the Omaha library system in his five years here, began receiving recruitment offers less than a year after moving to Omaha.


THE WORLD-HERALD

Gary Wasdin celebrates a reading challenge with Abrahams Branch staffer Sara Nelson. Wasdin has “really elevated the position” of director, said trustees Chairman Mike Meyer.

He stayed through those years to involve the public more in Omaha’s libraries, and because he grew fond of the city.

Wasdin said he and his partner, Luis Boggio, found Omahans to be welcoming and kind.

FULL story at link.

King County Library
» $111 million annual budget, and most revenue is generated from a property tax levy specifically for libraries.
» 48 branches
» 9.9 million visitors in 2013
Same-sex marriage in Washington state
» Legalized in the State Legislature in 2012
» That legislation replaced a 2007 law that allowed domestic partnerships for same-sex couples
» Washington was the seventh state in the United States to legalize gay marriage

[exboyfil]

1. Wish he had moved across the river

to Iowa. Would have liked for him to stay in the midwest. My daughters go to a public school in a upper middle class bedroom community. Most of their friends are supportive of gay rights. Things are changing quickly, and I have to think it is the case in Nebraska as well.

[dsc]

2. I would imagine his problem would have been any move to Iowa would have been a downward one

Des Moines is about half the size of Omaha while Seattle is bigger if anything.

[rurallib]

3. but he could have lived in Council Bluffs and commuted to his job in Omaha

same sex marriage has been legal in Iowa for quite a while.
Unless there was a provision in his contract that he must live in Omaha

[dsc]

5. the problem with that is what happens if he falls ill in Nebraska

also what happens with this Nebraska state or city pension in regards to his husband.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I'll be glad to see the day when gay couples can marry in

any state in the country. We need visible, positive gay role models in the red states, for the sake of the gay kids growing up here if nothing else.