McDaniel College in Westminster was a state-wide leader in equal access to fertility benefits long before the current legislation was even introduced ("McDaniel College led the way on equal access to fertility benefits for same-sex couples," March 24.
My wife and I married in 2011 after a five-year courtship that spanned six states and almost as many jobs as I worked my way through the ranks of academia.
When I finally landed my dream job — a professorship at McDaniel College, a small liberal arts college in Westminster — we were thrilled. We bought a small house there soon after getting married and began to think about starting a family.
When we read the fine print on our insurance plan, we were dismayed to realize that although fertility services were covered for other married couples, we were completely excluded because I would be using sperm from an anonymous male donor instead of from my partner.
I brought the issue to the attention of McDaniel's president, Roger Casey, and he agreed with me that the policy wasn't fair. He appointed a committee of faculty and staff to examine the issue.
After a long process and a lot of resistance from the insurance industry, McDaniel implemented a new benefits policy in 2014 that extended fertility benefits to all couples. To my knowledge, McDaniel was the first higher education institution in Maryland to do this.
My wife and I didn't end up waiting for the policy to change — with support from family we paid for our treatments out-of-pocket, and our amazing daughter was born in 2013. It was and still is a financial hardship.
However, I am proud of my employer for taking my concerns seriously and for being a pioneer in this important civil rights issue. The state of Maryland should follow McDaniel's lead.
Molly W. Jacobs, Westminster