Benefits For Government Workers' Gay Partners

President Barack Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees but stopping short of a guarantee of full health insurance, a White House official said.

Obama planned to announce his decision Wednesday in the Oval Office, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Obama had not signed a presidential memorandum putting his plan into place.

The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that has become impatient with the White House in recent weeks.

Several powerful gay fundraisers withdrew their support from a Democratic National Committee event June 25 where Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a Justice Department brief last week that defended the Defense of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian criticism.

Gays and lesbians also fretted as the White House declined to intervene in the cases of enlisted military members facing courts-martial for defying the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policies. Gays and lesbians can serve in the military now if they do not disclose their sexuality or engage in homosexual behavior.

White House officials say they want Congress to repeal the policy as part of a "lasting and durable" solution, instead of intervening on individual cases.

"The president agreed that ... the policy wasn't working for our national interests, that he committed to change that policy, that he's working with the secretary of defense and the joint chiefs on making that happen," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said last month.

The administration has tried to make small, quiet moves to extend benefits to gays and lesbians. The State Department has promised to give partners of gay and lesbian diplomats many benefits, such as diplomatic passports and language training.

But Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's promises left out financial benefits such as pensions.

Obama's move Wednesday would direct the State Department to take into account same-sex couples and their children when assigning housing for foreign service officers. Those same-sex partners also would be allowed access to medical facilities at diplomatic posts abroad — all end-runs around Congress' limit on benefits.

White House officials said Obama would respect existing laws, which block many benefits such as health care. But the decision would allow employees' domestic partners to be added to a government insurance program that pays for long-term conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease.

The memorandum also would allow employees to use sick leave to take care of domestic partners and their children.

Richard Socarides, a New York lawyer and former senior adviser on gay rights issues to President Bill Clinton, was taking a wait-and-see attitude on Obama's announcement.

"If it doesn't include health insurance, if he doesn't talk about the military and about the (Justice Department) brief, I think it will fall short," Socarides said in an e-mail late Tuesday. "Right now, people are looking for real action."

John Berry, head of the Office of Personnel Management and the highest-ranking gay official in the administration, told a gay rally last weekend that Obama planned to take action on benefits soon.

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PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Comments

[Glenn, Texas]

It's too late now gays - you should have done your research on Obama BEFORE you got carried away with the media hype. His record on gay issues is appalling - he was never going to be a good choice for us. He has never marched in a gay pride parade, he has never worked on the board of a gay charity, he refused for over TWO YEARS to give interviews to the gay media and he asked a prominent anti-gay preacher to speak at his rallies and at his inauguration. Do the math !
If you had educated yourselves you would have supported Hillary Clinton - her record on gay rights is FAR superior to Obama. Now we all have to suffer because of all the uneducated gays who voted for Obama.
Hillary regularly marches in gay pride parades, as First Lady she continued to work on the board of gay pride charities against advice from the government, she gave almost every requested interview with the gay media during the primaries and she attended every gay open forum during the primaries in various states - Obama attended NONE. Hillary's campaign was also the first to come to the gay bars and talk to us, to include us - Obama only chose to copy that once he saw how far behind he was with the gay vote at that time.
Electing Obama was a disaster for the gay community - I can't believe it's taken you all so long to work that out.
Obama also took major funding from the black churches who are the most homophobic community in the US - he knows he needs that funding again in 4 years - how likely do you think it is he will upset those people by passing laws that support gays ? Think about it. I wish you had thought about it before you rejected Hillary.