The changes are official

Here is the ALDAC regarding the same-sex partner benefits Secretary Clinton announced last week:

R 262320Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI

UNCLAS STATE 066740

FROM U/S KENNEDY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMGT, APER
SUBJECT: Implementing Benefits for Same-Sex Domestic Partners of Foreign Service Employees Serving Abroad


Ref: State 063819
1. Last Thursday, the Secretary announced that the Department is extending the full range of legally available benefits to same-sex domestic partners of members of the Foreign Service sent to serve abroad. I am pleased to advise that the implementing changes to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) will be effective for the Department of State on June 26, 2009. If other agencies decide to implement these changes as well, they may choose the same date or any subsequent date.

2. The interim changes to the FAM are available on line at http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/prd/hrweb/dg/pc/same_sex_domestic_partners.cfm. We expect them to be published in final within 30 days, following interagency review. We encourage you to review them to gain a fuller understanding of the benefits extended in reftel.

3. To obtain benefits for their same-sex domestic partners, employees must:

(1) file an affidavit of eligibility for benefits and obligations (also available at http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/prd/hrweb/dg/pc/same_sex_domes
tic_partners.cfm) and,
(2) update their OF-126(Residency and Dependency Report, see para 6). Please read and consider the affidavit carefully before signing.

4. Domestic partners must also comply with the same security requirements and undergo the same background review as spouses. Domestic partners must also have a valid medical clearance for the post of assignment. Those already at post should follow the procedures for a newly acquired dependent - they will be given access to the overseas health unit for up to 90 days pending completion of their medical clearance. It is important to note that domestic partners must have health insurance as the Department acts only as a secondary payer in event of overseas hospitalization.

5. As per the FAM regulations, the affidavit must affirm, among other things, that the employee and his/her domestic partner:

(a) are each other's sole domestic partner and intend to remain committed to one another indefinitely;
(b) have a common residence, and intend to continue the arrangement;
(c) are at least 18 years of age and mentally competent to consent to contract;
(d) share responsibility for a significant measure of each other's common welfare and financial obligations;
(e) are not married to, joined in civil union with, or domestic partners with anyone else; and
(f) are same-sex domestic partners, and not related in a way that would prohibit legal marriage in the State in which we reside.

6. For State employees, both documents should be directed to your Assignment Technician in HR/EX. The OF-126 must be filed electronically. An updated version is available to each employee through his/her GEMS account on HR Online. The signed affidavit can be e-mailed to your assignment technician at "HR-EX-ASU" on the Global Address List or faxed to 202-663-0449. You may file these forms immediately.

7. Employees of other foreign affairs agencies should consult their Human Resources Office for filing instructions. We offer that the OF-0126, available on the Department of State's intranet, might be amended with a pen-and-ink change to add "domestic partner" in the box requesting "relationship".

8. Additional instructions and guidance will be issued in the coming days on specific benefits. In addition, while we are willing to offer diplomatic and official passports to eligible US citizen domestic partners, diplomatic visas and work eligibility for them depends upon host governments. In this regard, bilateral work agreements may have to be renegotiated.

9. As we proceed to implement this important initiative, we welcome any suggestions you may have for improvement.

10. Minimize considered.
CLINTON

State Department Bios of GLIFAA members

This year, in honor of Gay Pride month, for the first time ever, the Office of Civil Rights at the State Department did what it has for Black History month, Hispanic History month, etc. It posted bios of GLIFAA members. Fairness and inclusiveness wins again!

Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Bryan Dalton

Bryan Dalton, FS-01, joined the Department in 1987. A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, he studied in Warsaw and interned in Niger.

His early overseas tours as a consular officer included Mexico City, Taipei, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City. In 1995 he helped open Embassy Hanoi as a political officer. Returning to the Department, he was desk officer for Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and the Gambia, then for Sierra Leone during the height of its civil war.

Through the Department’s mid-career studies program, he earned a Masters in Public Policy at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School in 2001. After a tour as program officer for the International Visitor Program in New York City, he served four years as Consul General in Bucharest.

In 1992 he helped found Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA). During his presidency of the organization from 1998-2000, GLIFAA worked with the Department to end discriminatory practices and establish the Members of Household policy. In these efforts, he has been motivated by the counsel and example of many current and former Department employees who lost their jobs or endured harassment due to their sexual orientation, and by the courage of LGBTs who have broken down barriers in their foreign affairs careers.

Currently, he is chief of the consular section and GLIFAA post representative in Chennai. He is accompanied by his partner of 17 years, Mr. Nam Nguyen, and their adopted Romanian street dog, Devi. Dalton and Nguyen have served four foreign and two domestic tours together.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Patrick Wingate

Patrick R. Wingate joined the Department of State as a consular-coned Foreign Service Officer in January 2004. He and his family served first in San Salvador, El Salvador and then in Zagreb, Croatia. Their next tour is Tbilisi, Georgia.

Before joining the Foreign Service Patrick worked for State and USAID from 1993 through 2003 in Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he served as Washington-based program manager for USAID/OTI projects in Sierra Leone, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Patrick and his Canadian partner, Rami Shakra, were married in Canada in September 2003, and their two children Canaan and Maya were born in 2004 in Guatemala. The Shakra-Wingate Family proudly serves the United States of America abroad, and hopes to be a cultural example of the rich diversity and equality their country has to offer for all families, both foreign and domestic.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Nell Robinson

Nell Robinson is a second tour foreign service officer currently serving in Embassy Kabul’s political section covering the human rights portfolio. Prior to this tour she served as a consular officer for two years in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Her next assignment is the economics long course at FSI.

Before joining the State Department in 2005, Nell worked as a staff attorney at the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nell’s partner of ten years, Rachel Mandal, served as newsletter editor in Ciudad Juarez. During the March Entry Level Professionals conference in Kathmandu, Nell encouraged the Director General to re-visit the policy prohibiting Members of Household (MOHs) from applying for EFM jobs in Kabul. During her tour in Ciudad Juarez, she organized the Consulate’s first gay pride day celebration which was extremely well received by both Locally Engaged Staff and Foreign and Civil Service Professionals there.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Ken Kero

Ken Kero joined the U.S. Foreign Service January 2000. He has served in Rio de Janeiro, Baghdad, Washington, and currently Berlin, and is heading out to serve as Economic and Commercial Officer in Colombo, Sri Lanka this summer. While serving in Berlin, Ken met and, after a two-and-a-half year courtship, married his husband, David Kero-Mentz. In 2009, he received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work on arms control and disarmament issues. He has twice served on the board of GLIFAA and remains active in supporting equality both at State and with national organizations.

Prior to joining State, Mr. Kero was a legislative staffer on Capitol Hill, working first for Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and later Ellen O. Tauscher (D-CA). He grew up in Vermont and graduated from the George Washington University, where he earned his BA in International Affairs and his Master’s in Public Administration. In his spare time, Ken and his husband like to travel and rest up from traveling.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: J. Michelle Schohn and Mary E. Glantz

J. Michelle Schohn and Mary E. Glantz are a tandem couple serving in Washington, D.C. Dr. Glantz entered the Foreign Service in 2002 as a political-coned Foreign Service Officer and served her first tour in Baku as a political officer. Ms. Schohn was Dr. Glantz’s Member of Household until 2004, when she joined the Foreign Service as a public diplomacy-coned Foreign Service Officer. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Glantz and Ms. Schohn served in Jerusalem as consular/political officers. In 2007, they returned to Washington, D.C., where Dr. Glantz is currently serving as the Russia Desk internal political affairs officer. Ms. Schohn served one year on the INR Watch and is currently the Special Assistant to the INR Front Office. In June, Dr. Glantz will move to the Poland Desk and Ms. Schohn will serve as a Press Officer in the Spokesman’s office.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Dr. Glantz completed a PhD in history at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is the author of FDR and the Soviets, a study of United States–Soviet relations during the Roosevelt Administration. She earned a B.A. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. in Soviet and East European Studies from the University of London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Ms. Schohn was an archaeologist and is a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a B.A. in English/Journalism and an M.A. in anthropology from the University of South Carolina, and is a member of the PeeDee Indian Nation of Beaver Creek. Ms. Schohn and Dr. Glantz have been together since 1999 and were married in the United Church of Christ in Chapel Hill, NC in 2002.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Ajit Joshi

Ajit Joshi is a Senior Program Officer in the Program, Policy, and Management Office in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID. Previously, he served as Special Assistant to the Counselor Ambassador Mosina H. Jordan, Team Leader for NGO capacity building in conflict affected areas managing a $22 million NGO strengthening portfolio, Acting Division Chief managing a staff overseeing a $41 million communication, peace building, and governance program in Africa, and Conflict Management Specialist in Africa, during which time he earned USAID’s Superior Honor Award.

Mr. Joshi is the Policy Director of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) and he serves as the GLIFAA representative to the USAID Executive Diversity Council and has previously served as an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Counselor. He published the article, "Achieving Full Diversity in the Foreign Service," in the Foreign Service Journal and has received a Superior Accomplishment Award for Special Acts and Suggestions as well as an Equal Employment Opportunity Award for launching initiatives to improve diversity at USAID. In addition to GLIFAA, he is the Diversity Co-Chair for the National Capitol Area Steering Committee for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization.

Mr. Joshi received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts University, a Fulbright Fellowship to study in India, and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Outside of work and LGBT advocacy, Mr. Joshi teaches yoga and meditation and loves the outdoors.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Clayton Bond and Ted Osius

Clayton Bond and Ted Osius met in Washington, DC, in 2004, at a monthly business meeting of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) – the officially-recognized organization representing the concerns of gay and lesbian personnel and their families in the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and other foreign affairs agencies and offices in the U.S. Government. Ted was then the deputy director of the Korea desk and Clayton was a Watch Officer in the Department’s 24/7 Operations Center. They were married in Vancouver, Canada in June 2006 and had a commitment ceremony in Ted’s home state of Maryland the following month.

For the past three years, they were posted together at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, where Ted was the Minister Counselor for Political Affairs and Clayton was first an Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer and, later, a General Services Officer. Previously, Ted served as Embassy Bangkok’s Regional Environmental Affairs Officer, and as Senior Adviser on International Affairs to Vice President Al Gore, with a portfolio encompassing Asia, international economics and trade issues. He also served in the Philippines, the Vatican, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Clayton served previously as a Recruiter for Department, covering the Southeast U.S., and as a Consular Officer in Bogota.

Ted wrote The U.S.-Japan Security Alliance: Why It Matters and How To Strengthen It (Published in 2002 by CSIS/Praeger). He earned his B.A. from Harvard University, and his M.A. from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He edited and researched Let’s Go: Israel and Egypt, Let’s Go: Greece, Let’s Go: Italy, and Let’s Go: Europe while an undergraduate. In late June 2009, he will begin a tour as Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta.

Clayton has a Master’s degree in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, where he was a Fulbright Scholar; a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Hampton University. In August 2009, he will join Embassy Singapore as Assistant General Services Officer.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Robin S. Brooks

Robin S. Brooks is a career Foreign Service Officer currently serving in the State Department Operations Center and assigned to the Political Section at Embassy Sarajevo starting summer 2010. She previously served as American Citizens’ Services Chief and Non-Immigrant Visa Chief in Ankara Turkey, and before that was the human rights negotiator at the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Robin taught political science at Sofia University in Bulgaria and also worked as a translator for the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, an independent human rights NGO.

Ms. Brooks is the recipient of two Department Superior Honor Awards for her human rights work, in 2005 and 2006, as well as a Meritorious Honor Award in 2008 for her work to facilitate the resettlement of Iraqi refugees to the U.S. through Turkey.

Robin is a native of Pueblo, CO, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in political science. She is also a 1995 graduate of Smith College.


Gay and Lesbian Pride Month: Eric Nelson

Eric Nelson is the 49th U.S. Consul General in Munich, Germany. As Consul General for Bavaria, he is working to expand and strengthen partnerships between Bavaria and the United States, focusing on security cooperation, citizen diplomacy, and business and investment ties.

Mr. Nelson joined the Foreign Service in 1990. He most recently served in Washington in the Office of Global Support Services and Innovation and as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Administration, where he developed strategies for improving the quality and efficiency of the State Department's support of overseas posts.

Mr. Nelson has served overseas as the Management Consul in Milan, Budget and Finance Attaché in Mexico City, and as a Vice Consul in Frankfurt and Santo Domingo.

He began his career in public service as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching math and science in Liberia, West Africa from 1984-1985. Mr. Nelson, a resident of Texas, graduated from Rice University of Houston, Texas, in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. He also studied German in a Rutgers University program at the Universität Konstanz in 1982. In addition to German, he speaks Italian and Spanish. In 1988, Mr. Nelson received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He has received the Department of State's Superior Honor Award twice and the Meritorious Honor Award five times.

Consul General Nelson received the “IDIZEM Dialogpreis 2008” in Munich in recognition of his engagement for inter-religious and intercultural dialogue.

Washington Times: Gay Diplomats Get Key Benefits

Clinton: Gay Diplomats Get Key Benefits
Friday, June 19, 2009
Washington Times
By Nicholas Kralev

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued an order Thursday granting diplomatic passports, access to medical care and U.S. government jobs overseas to same-sex partners of U.S. diplomats.

The State Department released a statement by Mrs. Clinton, who worked from home after a bad fall late Wednesday in which she fractured an elbow. She is expected to have surgery within days, spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Thursday's order marks a significant change in policy, and officials said it goes into effect immediately. The State Department will now cover the moving expenses of domestic partners of gay Foreign Service members on their way to a new assignment, as well as the cost of any emergency evacuation.

"Domestic partners of federal employees have for too long been treated unequally," Mrs. Clinton said. "This change is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do."

Mrs. Clinton's order came a day after President Obama extended to gay federal employees limited benefits, such as paid leave to care for a sick partner but not health coverage. Her directive had been approved in advance by the White House.

Partners of gay and unmarried heterosexual diplomats will now be given language and other training at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington. In addition, they will have priority when applying for employment at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, which is now afforded only to spouses.

"Changing our policy to provide training, medical care and other benefits to same-sex domestic partners will promote the cohesiveness, safety and effectiveness of our posts abroad," Mrs. Clinton said. "It will help the department attract and retain personnel in a competitive environment where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers."

Just before leaving office in late 2000, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright designated domestic partners "members of household," but that did not bring meaningful benefits. Still, it allowed though it did not require ambassadors and other mission managers to extend some limited benefits, such as building passes and access to medical clinics.

Mrs. Clinton's order makes those requirements mandatory.

That would prevent cases like the recent one of a department employee in Mexico whose two sons tested positive for swine flu. The employee was given the anti-viral medication Tamiflu by the diplomatic post's health unit, but the employee's partner was denied the medication until acting Ambassador Leslie Bassett intervened.

"We will implement this policy by changing our Foreign Affairs Manual and the Standardized Regulations to allow the same-sex domestic partners of the department's Foreign Service employees to qualify as family members for a variety of benefits and allowances," Mrs. Clinton said. "Where appropriate, this extension of benefits and allowances will apply to the children of same-sex domestic partners as well."

Jason L. Davis, acting ambassador to Malta and a gay career diplomat, called Mrs. Clinton's order "a huge, positive change."

"With the exception of health insurance, we are now being treated the same as straight families in all the areas that matter most," Mr. Davis said.

Many of the benefits, such as diplomatic passports and certain embassy jobs, are only available to U.S. citizens.

State Department officials also conceded that in some countries, partners of gay diplomats may not be accepted and granted visas by the host government. In many countries around the world, homosexuality is illegal.

"The department also will work with foreign governments to provide same-sex domestic partners, to the extent possible, with diplomatic visas, privileges and immunities, and authorization to work in the local economy," Mrs. Clinton said.

CNN: Clinton Blazes Trail on Same-Sex Benefits

I love our Secretary. Just saying.

Clinton Blazes Trail on Same-Sex Benefits

Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer

Yesterday’s groundbreaking move by President Obama to provide some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees came to fruition in large part due to Secretary of Clinton, who first put the issue on the table.

It is unclear whether the Obama administration came to office planning to offer government-wide benefits to domestic partners of civil service employees, but Clinton, a longtime advocate of gay rights, was on it day one. Since President Obama named her as his pick for Secretary of State in November, Clinton’s transition staff and the State Department had been working with members of the American Foreign Service Association and the group GLIFAA (Gays & Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies) on what could be done to extend benefits to domestic partners of diplomats serving abroad.

At her very first senior staff meeting Clinton instructed the State Department to review whether she had the authority to extend benefits to same-sex domestic partners. About a week later a gay employee asked Clinton during a town hall with employees to eliminate discrimination against same sex partners. The Secretary of State drew loud applause when she said the issue was “of real concern” to her, and that she was already working on it.

Several weeks ago, a memo to employees from Clinton instituting the changes was leaked to the press. Clinton’s aides at the time said the memo was a draft, and that Clinton couldn’t change policies without an “interagency review” of the issue to make sure State Department actions wouldn’t negatively affect other agencies. But the memo seemed to light a fire under the administration, which quickly caught up to Clinton’s lead.

Still, the health benefits announced Wednesday for same sex partners of non-State Department civil employees is a drop in the bucket compared to the long list of other benefits the State Department extended to the gay partners of US diplomats serving abroad. In addition to health benefits and access to medical and emergency evacuation, domestic partners will also get diplomatic passports, training at the Foreign Service Institute and housing allowances. Same sex partners will get the same preference for US embassy jobs that spouses currently enjoy, and the State Department will now work with foreign governments to provide same-sex domestic partners, to the extent possible, with diplomatic visas, work permits and other privileges, including diplomatic immunity. The State Department will even pay for them to fly home if a relative is gravely ill. Few of these benefits are currently offered to domestic partners.

Although the Foreign Service has difference rules and regulations which allow the State Department to do more in the first place, Clinton extended the full range of legally available benefits and allowances to same sex partners of members of the Foreign Service. In a statement issued Thursday acknowledging the support partners provide to overseas posts, Clinton said, “domestic partners of federal employees have for too long been treated unequally.”

Clinton knows the move is also good business. Today’s US diplomats serving around the world are increasingly having to shed their pinstripe suits and get dirty in the field, which requires a whole different skill set. These days the State Department is competing for the same Arabic and Farsi speakers and technology gurus as top notch multinational companies, where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm. Clinton herself noted if the State Department wants to remain a “word class employer” which attracts and retains high caliber personnel, the change is “the smart thing to do.”

Partner Benefits!

This is amazing. I have never been prouder to serve than I am today, and never happier that Secretary Clinton is my boss.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

_____________________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release June 18, 2009

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

Benefits for Same-Sex Domestic Partners of Foreign Service Employees

While a career in the Foreign Service is rewarding, the demands to serve our country require great commitment and sacrifice by Foreign Service employees and their families. As in American society, our Foreign Service families come in different configurations; all are part of the common fabric of our Post communities abroad. Family members often uproot their lives, endure hardship conditions, and put their own careers on hold to support our overseas missions. The Department of State acknowledges these vital contributions by providing certain family members with benefits, training, and allowances.

The same has not been true for domestic partners of Foreign Service employees. While these partners support the work of our overseas posts, they are not granted benefits and allowances provided for other family members. Domestic partners of federal employees have for too long been treated unequally. As one of my first acts as Secretary, I directed the Department to review whether we had the flexibility to extend additional benefits to domestic partners.

Yesterday, the President issued a memorandum reflecting his commitment to ensuring that same-sex domestic partners receive the maximum benefits that each agency legally can undertake. I am pleased to announce that the Department of State is extending the full range of legally available benefits and allowances to same-sex domestic partners of members of the Foreign Service sent to serve abroad.

Changing our policy to provide training, medical care and other benefits to same-sex domestic partners will promote the cohesiveness, safety and effectiveness of our posts abroad. It will help the Department attract and retain personnel in a competitive environment where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers. This change is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do.

We will implement this policy by changing our Foreign Affairs Manual and the Standardized Regulations to allow the same-sex domestic partners of the Department’s Foreign Service employees to qualify as family members for a variety of benefits and allowances. Where appropriate, this extension of benefits and allowances will apply to the children of same-sex domestic partners as well. To qualify for these benefits and allowances on behalf of a same-sex domestic partner, an employee must file an affidavit identifying his or her same-sex domestic partner and certifying to certain eligibility requirements that will be set forth in the FAM.

The Department of State intends to provide the following additional benefits and allowances for declared same-sex domestic partners of eligible employees serving overseas:

· Diplomatic passports,

· Inclusion on employee travel orders to and from posts abroad,

· Shipment of household effects,

· Inclusion in family size calculations for the purpose of making housing allocations,

· Family member preference for employment at posts abroad,

· Use of medical facilities at posts abroad,

· Medical evacuation from posts abroad,

· Emergency travel for partners to visit gravely ill or injured employees and relatives,

· Inclusion as family members for emergency evacuation from posts abroad,

· Subsistence payments related to emergency evacuation from posts abroad,

· Inclusion in calculations of payments of overseas allowances (e.g., payment for quarters, cost of living, and other allowances),

· Representation expenses, and

· Training at the Foreign Service Institute.

The Department also will work with foreign governments to provide same-sex domestic partners, to the extent possible, with diplomatic visas, privileges and immunities, and authorization to work in the local economy.

We look forward to implementing these changes.

Government Executive: Obama backs extension of benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees

Obama backs extension of benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees

By Alyssa Rosenberg
June 17, 2009

President Obama on Wednesday directed the Office of Personnel Management to extend long-term care benefits and family and parental leave to the same-sex partners of gay and lesbian federal employees, and ordered agencies to conduct internal reviews to identify other benefits that they could extend as well.

"Many of our government's hard-working, dedicated, and patriotic public servants have long been denied basic rights that their colleagues enjoy for one simple reason -- the people that they love are of the same sex," Obama said.

Obama stopped short of granting employees' domestic partners access to health care benefits, saying he legally could not do so, but endorsed legislation that would provide such benefits.

The legislation, known as the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 2517) is currently under consideration on Capitol Hill.

"Extending equal benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees is the right thing to do," Obama said. "It is also sound economic policy. Many top employers in the private sector already offer benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees; those companies recognize that offering partner benefits helps them compete for and retain the brightest and most talented employees. The federal government is at a disadvantage on that score right now, and change is long overdue."

Obama also backed a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the government from offering full domestic partner benefits. "It's discriminatory, it interferes with states' rights, and it's time we overturned it," he said.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry characterized Obama's memo as "is a first step, not a final step. This is an attempt to get our federal house in order.... I think the gay community, of which I am a member, can be extremely proud that this administration is with us and stands with us on the core issues that we care deeply about."

The memo mentions two specific governmentwide benefits for civil servants: the long-term care insurance program and the right to use sick leave to care for an ailing partner or nonbiological, nonadoptive children. It also lists a number of other benefits for the partners of State Department employees. Obama directed OPM and State to move immediately to provide those benefits.

Berry said while some federal supervisors have been understanding about sick leave use, the president's order would create a uniform policy.

"When I worked at the Smithsonian and my partner passed away in 1996, my supervisor, Connie Newman, extended to me the ability to take leave to handle that situation," he said. "Federal employees will no longer have to rely on whether their supervisor is enlightened or not."

Michelle Schohn, president of the employee group Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies, said it was disappointing that the administration had waited so long to let the State Department act on plans to change policies affecting the spouses of gay and lesbian diplomats when they are stationed overseas. A draft of a plan by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to allow Foreign Service officers' domestic partners access to medical facilities, job competitions and housing and evacuation coverage has been circulating since at least May. But Schohn noted that most Foreign Service officers are assigned to new posts in April.

"From the perspective of people whose lives depend on these changes, the change has seemed to be very slow and tentative," she said.

The memorandum also directs department and agency heads to begin internal reviews to determine if they can offer additional benefits to gay and lesbian employees. Berry conducted such a review as an assistant secretary in the Interior Department during the Clinton administration. It led to the expansion of relocation benefits and counseling services to the domestic partners of Interior employees and the elimination of provisions of the National Park Service's law enforcement standards, including a ban on security clearances for gay and lesbian employees.

Obama gave OPM 90 days to issue guidance on how agencies should implement civil service laws offering protection against discrimination. Berry said the guidance would make clear that in addition to sexual orientation, gender expression and identity cannot provide a basis for discrimination in employment.

"It is the view of the president and the administration that it is a bedrock principle of federal civil service that the employer does not make employment decisions on anything other than the employee's ability to do their job," Berry said.

Schohn said adding gender identity to anti-discrimination policy would be a significant step.

"It is the kind of forward-leaning thing that I think the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community is looking for," she said. "We're looking for our president to tell us that all kinds of discrimination are wrong."

But Schohn also noted that access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program is "the big thing."

Health benefits for federal employees became a pressing issue for the administration in January and February, when two California federal judges ordered their benefits offices to process health care enrollments for the partners of two gay court employees. In the past, OPM has said the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents the federal government from treating same-sex couples in the same way as heterosexual married couples, blocked the agency from extending health care benefits. The judges argued that OPM in fact had the authority to grant access to health care to domestic partners if it chose to do so.

The administration also faces a June 29 deadline to file a brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act in a suit brought by a group of gay federal employees in Massachusetts. Those employees, who are legally married to their partners, say the government has unfairly denied them benefits available to heterosexual married couples. The administration has drawn fire from gay rights groups for a brief defending DOMA in a separate lawsuit in California.

Federal labor unions said they would renew their push for passage of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act in conjunction with Obama's endorsement of the bill. Richard Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, wrote to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who sponsored the Senate and House versions of the legislation, to say the union "stand[s] ready to assist you in helping this bill become law." Baldwin appeared with Obama at the White House Wednesday when he signed his memo.

The Memorandum

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release June 17, 2009
June 17, 2009

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination

Millions of hard-working, dedicated, and patriotic public servants are employed by the Federal Government as part of the civilian workforce, and many of these devoted Americans have same-sex domestic partners. Leading companies in the private sector are free to provide to same-sex domestic partners the same benefits they provide to married people of the opposite sex. Executive departments and agencies, however, may only provide benefits on that basis if they have legal authorization to do so. My Administration is not authorized by Federal law to extend a number of available Federal benefits to the same-sex partners of Federal employees. Within existing law, however, my Administration, in consultation with the Secretary of State, who oversees our Foreign Service employees, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, who oversees human resource management for our civil service employees, has identified areas in which statutory authority exists to achieve greater equality for the Federal workforce through extension to same-sex domestic partners of benefits currently available to married people of the opposite sex. Extending available benefits will help the Federal Government compete with the private sector to recruit and retain the best and the brightest employees.
I hereby request the following:

Section 1. Extension of Identified Benefits. The Secretary of State and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall, in consultation with the Department of Justice, extend the benefits they have respectively identified to qualified same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees where doing so can be achieved and is consistent with Federal law.

Sec. 2. Review of Governmentwide Benefits. The heads of all other executive departments and agencies, in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management, shall conduct a review of the benefits provided by their respective departments and agencies to determine what authority they have to extend such benefits to same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees. The results of this review shall be reported within 90 days to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, who, in consultation with the Department of Justice, shall recommend to me any additional measures that can be taken, consistent with existing law, to provide benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of Federal Government employees.

Sec 3. Promoting Compliance with Existing Law Requiring Federal Workplaces to be Free of Discrimination Based on Non-Merit Factors. The Office of Personnel Management shall issue guidance within 90 days to all executive departments and agencies regarding compliance with, and implementation of, the civil service laws, rules, and regulations, including 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(10), which make it unlawful to discriminate against Federal employees or applicants for Federal employment on the basis of factors not related to job performance.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) Authority granted by law or Executive Order to an agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) Functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Sec. 5. Publication. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
# # #

A Start

So here it is. The announcement we have been waiting for. President Obama is right that it is a historic step and that it is only a step. There is so much more that we need, not the least of which is health insurance for our partners. And we need full marriage. Now. I can't even begin to describe to you how irritated I get with those who complain that the LGBT community has not given him enough time. These are people who have full rights. Who are full citizens. Who have marriages that are recognized no matter where they live. I don't. My church recognizes my marriage but my state and my country, the country I serve, does not. Stop telling me to be patient.

I understand that this is as far as the President can go for now. I am gratified that this appears to give Secretary Clinton the go ahead to release the letter leaked last month. Her letter and the benefits offered in it, go a long way towards making the lives of LGBT officers better. She too is doing all she can.

Now it is up to Congress. Repeal DOMA. Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Grant LGBT families marriage rights even if you have to call it something else. Make me a full citizen.

Statement by the President on the Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination and Support of the Lieberman-Baldwin Benefits Legislation

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 17, 2009

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM ON FEDERAL BENEFITS AND NON-DISCRIMINATION, AND SUPPORT OF THE LIEBERMAN-BALDWIN BENEFITS LEGISLATION


In 2007, Michael Guest, the first openly gay Ambassador confirmed by the United States Senate, resigned from the Foreign Service. He loved his career, but he had to leave it in the end -- because he believed that the country he served was failing to implement the principles of equality it espoused abroad. His partner was ineligible for training provided to Ambassadorial spouses; he bore the costs of his partner's transportation to his placements abroad; and his partner did not receive the overseas benefits and allowances given to spouses of Ambassadors.

It is too late to prevent Ambassador Guest from having to make the choice he made, but today I am proud to issue a Presidential Memorandum that will go a long way toward achieving equality for many of the hard-working, dedicated, and patriotic LGBT Americans serving in our Federal Government -- Americans like Ambassador Guest. In consultation with Secretary Clinton, who in her role as Secretary of State oversees our foreign service employees, and Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, who oversees human resource management for our civil service employees, my Administration has identified a number of areas in which greater equality can be achieved under existing law by extending to the same-sex partners of Federal employees many of the same benefits already available to the spouses of heterosexual Federal employees. I am therefore requesting the Secretary of State and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to extend the benefits they have identified to the same-sex partners of Federal employees where doing so can be achieved consistent with Federal law. I am also requesting the heads of all other executive departments and agencies to conduct a review of the benefits they administer to determine which may legally be extended to same-sex partners.

But this Presidential Memorandum is just a start. Unfortunately, my Administration is not authorized by existing Federal law to provide same-sex couples with the full range of benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples. That's why I stand by my long-standing commitment to work with Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. It's discriminatory, it interferes with States' rights, and it's time we overturned it.

I am also proud to announce my support for an important piece of legislation introduced in both Houses of Congress last month -- the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009. This legislation will extend to the same-sex partners of Federal employees the same benefits already enjoyed by the opposite-sex spouses of Federal employees. The legislation has a number of co-sponsors in both Houses of Congress, but among those many sponsors, I want to recognize one in particular -- Representative Tammy Baldwin, who has been a real leader on this issue, and more broadly on the LGBT struggle for equality. Representative Baldwin, I look forward to working with you to achieve the important objectives set out in this bill as it moves through the legislative process. I also look forward to working with the bill's Senate champions, Senators Lieberman and Collins; I know that they will approach this process with the same spirit of cooperation in pursuit of our shared goals that they bring to all of their work in the Senate.

Extending equal benefits to the same-sex partners of Federal employees is the right thing to do. It is also sound economic policy. Many top employers in the private sector already offer benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees; those companies recognize that offering partner benefits helps them compete for and retain the brightest and most talented employees. The Federal Government is at a disadvantage on that score right now, and change is long overdue.

As Americans, we are all affected when our promises of equality go unfulfilled. Through measures like the Presidential Memorandum I am issuing today and the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, we will advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded and continue to perfect our Union.

Memorandum signed by the President regarding federal benefits and non-discrimination.

Secretary's Remarks: In Recognition of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month 2009

Secretary's Remarks: In Recognition of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month 2009

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
June 1, 2009
________________________________

Forty years ago this month, the gay rights movement began with the Stonewall riots in New York City, as gays and lesbians demanded an end to the persecution they had long endured. Now, after decades of hard work, the fight has grown into a global movement to achieve a world in which all people live free from violence and fear, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In honor of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and on behalf of the State Department, I extend our appreciation to the global LGBT community for its courage and determination during the past 40 years, and I offer our support for the significant work that still lies ahead.

At the State Department and throughout the Administration, we are grateful for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees in Washington and around the world. They and their families make many sacrifices to serve our nation. Their contributions are vital to our efforts to establish stability, prosperity and peace worldwide.

Human rights are at the heart of those efforts. Gays and lesbians in many parts of the world live under constant threat of arrest, violence, even torture. The persecution of gays and lesbians is a violation of human rights and an affront to human decency, and it must end. As Secretary of State, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Though the road to full equality for LGBT Americans is long, the example set by those fighting for equal rights in the United States gives hope to men and women around the world who yearn for a better future for themselves and their loved ones.

This June, let us recommit ourselves to achieving a world in which all people can live in safety and freedom, no matter who they are or whom they love.

Human Rights Campaign Applauds Extension of Benefits to Domestic Partners of Foreign Service Officers

Human Rights Campaign Applauds Extension of Benefits to Domestic Partners of Foreign Service Officers

Multiple reports that State Department will extend travel, training and other benefits to partners.

Washington – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today lauded State Department plans, reported in multiple media outlets, to extend a number of important benefits to the domestic partners of Foreign Service officers. According to press reports, among the benefits that will be extended to partners of Foreign Service officers are travel to and from overseas posts, shipments of household effects, visas and diplomatic passports, emergency travel to visit ill or injured partners, and evacuation in case of a security emergency or medical necessity. This action does not, however, make health insurance, retirement and numerous other benefits available to domestic partners of Foreign Service officers or any other federal workers.

“This is a remedy that is long overdue. For too many years, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Foreign Service officers have been forced to choose between serving their country and protecting their families,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We thank President Obama and Secretary Clinton for their leadership in taking this important step and look forward to working with the Administration to extend further protections and benefits to LGBT Americans. In addition, we thank the members of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) for their tireless efforts within the State Department and other agencies on behalf of LGBT people. We particularly thank former Ambassador Michael Guest, who left the Foreign Service after 26 years to protest these inequalities, for his service to our country and his tremendous leadership in advocating for equality.”

Alongside other organizations, Human Rights Campaign has been advocating for the extension of these important benefits for Foreign Service officers. After the November election, HRC issued its “Blueprint for Positive Change,” a series of more than 70 recommendations to the Obama Administration on how to improve the lives of LGBT people through executive action, which included extending the travel, training and other benefits described in the memorandum. Working with GLIFFA and the Council for Global Equality, HRC lobbied congressional committees to ask State Department officials about the extension of these benefits and to include them in key legislation governing the State Department.

In addition, alongside other Council members, HRC met with State Department representatives earlier this year and emphasized the importance of treating the partners of Foreign Service officers equally. On behalf of all federal workers, HRC continues to advocate for the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (DPBO), legislation that would extend health, retirement and other benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees; DPBO was reintroduced in the House and Senate last week.

Correcting the Press on the leaked letter

It is all over the media now that the letter leaked to the Advocate is legitimate and means that same-sex partners will take a major step forward in terms of receiving equal treatment with their heterosexual colleagues.

All of the major media outlets have covered it, including:

CNN: Benefits proposed for same-sex partners of U.S. diplomats

NYTimes: Diplomats’ Same-Sex Partners to Get Benefits

and the Washington Post: State Dept. Plan Would Extend Benefits to Same Sex Partners

All of this coverage is excellent and I sincerely hope that the letter is released officially and that the promises made in this letter are kept.

But all of these reports make several errors.

First, these benefits are for all declared domestic partners and their children. Same-sex or opposite-sex. The letter clearly states this.

Second, this is NOT full equality. It does address everything that the Secretary can do on her own. But it does not address health insurance, and issue of major concern, not pensions, just to name two issues. While this would be a major step forward, there is still much work to be done. But most of that work will now be in the hands of OPM and Congress. The Secretary, if she implements these measures, will have kept faith with those in the LGBT community who have always supported her.

Finally, there is a major error in who released the letter. No member of the GLIFAA board received this letter or any memo before it appeared in the press. No member of the GLIFAA board even saw this letter before it appeared in the Advocate. Those claims, started by the Associated Press and picked up by most major media, are simply false.

I don't know who leaked it nor what their intentions were. I hope they were good, but you can never really be certain. I hope there is no backlash. And mostly, I hope they implement these changes and finally begin to address the inequities facing LGBT Foreign Service Families who are dedicating their lives to the service of our country.

It does make me even prouder to serve.

The Advocate: Clinton Ready For Equal Treatment at State?

This is the first I have seen of this. All I can say is Kerry clearly has better sources in the Department than I do! And if it is true, wow! I'm an employee for life!

Clinton Ready For Equal Treatment at State?

By Kerry Eleveld

The Advocate has obtained a draft of a letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to employees of the State Department that details her intentions to extend certain benefits to same-sex partners of foreign service officers posted abroad.

“Historically, domestic partners of Foreign Service members have not been provided the same training, benefits, allowances, and protections that other family members receive. These inequities are unfair and must end. Providing training, medical care and other benefits to domestic partners promote the cohesiveness, safety and effectiveness of our Posts abroad,” says the letter.

The letter explains that the department will be “exercising its inherent authority to change its regulations in the Foreign Affairs Manual and Department of State Standardized Regulations” in order to allow domestic partners of foreign service personnel to qualify as family members. “Where appropriate, this extension of benefits and allowances will apply to the children of domestic partners as well.”

Providing these benefits to all employees, notes the letter, will help the department “attract and retain personnel in a competitive environment where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers. At bottom, the Department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex domestic partners because it is the right thing to do.”

The letter appears to be the culmination of Secretary Clinton's work with LGBT employee groups at the State Department. A source familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the letter was drafted by senior officials at the department and represents the Secretary’s thinking on the issue. The letter currently awaits final approval from senior government lawyers.

The draft is consistent with statements made this week by California Congressman Howard Berman that Secretary Clinton is committed to equalizing the treatment of gay employees of the State Department and that he anticipated an announcement on the matter soon.

Full text of the letter is below:

DRAFT INTERNAL RELEASE
For Review

Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department of State will be extending a number of benefits and allowances to domestic partners of members of the Foreign Service assigned abroad.

While a career in the Foreign Service is rewarding, the demands to serve our country both at home and abroad also require great sacrifice by our Foreign Service personnel and their families as well. Family members often must uproot their lives, endure hardship conditions, and put their own careers on hold. Like all families, our Foreign Service families come in different configurations; all are part of the common fabric of our Post communities abroad.

Historically, domestic partners of Foreign Service members have not been provided the same training, benefits, allowances, and protections that other family members receive. These inequities are unfair and must end. Providing training, medical care and other benefits to domestic partners promote the cohesiveness, safety and effectiveness of our Posts abroad. It will also help the Department attract and retain personnel in a competitive environment where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers. At bottom, the Department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex domestic partners because it is the right thing to do.

The Department will be exercising its inherent authority to change its regulations in the Foreign Affairs Manual and Department of State Standardized Regulations to allow the domestic partners of Department Foreign Service personnel to qualify as family members for a variety of benefits and allowances. Where appropriate, this extension of benefits and allowances will apply to the children of domestic partners as well. To qualify for these benefits and allowances, an employee must file an affidavit identifying his or her domestic partner and certifying to certain eligibility requirements that will be set forth in the FAM.

The Department of State intends to provide the following additional benefits and allowances for declared domestic partners of eligible employees serving overseas:

· Diplomatic passports,
· Inclusion on employee travel orders to and from posts abroad,
· Shipment of household effects,
· Inclusion in family size calculations for the purpose of making housing allocations,
· Family member preference for employment at posts abroad,
· Use of medical facilities at posts abroad,
· Medical evacuation from posts abroad,
· Emergency travel for the partners to visit gravely ill or injured employees,
· Inclusion as family members for emergency evacuation from posts abroad,
· Subsistence payments related to emergency evacuation from posts abroad,
· Inclusion in calculations of payments of overseas differentials and allowances (e.g., payment for quarters, cost of living, and other allowances),
· Representation expenses, and;
· Training at the Foreign Service Institute.

The Department also will work with our inter-agency partners and host country governments to provide domestic partners with diplomatic visas, appropriate diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities, and authorization to work in the local economy abroad.

We look forward to implementing these changes.

Same-Sex Partner Benefits on the Way for American Diplomats (maybe)

From UN Dispatch

Same-Sex Partner Benefits on the Way for American Diplomats

Congress has inserted a provision into the State Department authorization budget that would require the State Department to confer the same benefits to same-sex partners as it does to married couples.

Congressman Howard Berman, Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, included the provision in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410) to "end the long-standing practice of excluding the committed partners of Foreign Service officers from the benefits routinely provided to the spouses and children of officers serving abroad." The provision now must make its way through the budget process, including the conference committee where many-a-well intentioned proposal hits the chopping block. But in this case, it would be hard to imagine that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is lead by Chairman John Kerry and the moderate republic ranking member Richard Lugar, would do anything to strip out this provision.

This would be progress. For too long, gay and lesbian diplomats have had to chose between their families and their service. "I'm happy that efforts to redress these discriminatory policies are being undertaken," emails Michael Guest a former Foreign Service officer currently affiliated with the Center for Global Equality. "This is all about ensuring the safety, effectiveness and equal workplace conditions for those who serve our country abroad, and for the families who accompany them on those assignments." Amen!

Rip Off The Bandaid

Eugene Robinson in today's Washington Post asks the fair and timely question, where is our "fierce advocate for equality" for the LGBT community? A lot of folks, me included, are wondering the same thing.

MIA On Gay Marriage
By Eugene Robinson

Believe it or not, often I can see the other side of an argument. I know that tough gun control laws save lives and make our communities safer, for example, but I also see clarity in the Second Amendment. I support affirmative action, but I realize that providing opportunity to some worthy individuals can mean denying opportunity to others. Thinking about some issues involves discerning among subtly graded shades of gray.

On some issues, though, I really don't see anything but black and white. Among them is the "question" of granting full equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans, which really isn't a question at all. It's a long-overdue imperative, one that the nation is finally beginning to acknowledge.

Before his inauguration, President Obama called himself a "fierce advocate of equality for gay and lesbian Americans." Now, with the same-sex marriage issue percolating in state after state and with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ripe for repeal, it's time for Obama to put some of his political capital where his rhetoric is.

On Wednesday, Maine became the fifth state to legalize gay marriage; similar legislation in New Hampshire has been sent to the governor. Politicians in Washington who want to avoid what they see as a dangerous controversy have a convenient escape: They can say that the marriage issue should be left to the states and that the question of whether a legal gay marriage in one state should be recognized everywhere has already been addressed by Congress and ultimately will be settled by the courts.

But that's a dodge, not a stance. It certainly can't be confused with leadership.

Favoring "civil unions" that accord all the rights and benefits of marriage -- but that withhold the word marriage, and with it, I guess, society's approval -- amounts to another dodge. I'm concerned here with the way the law sees the relationship, not the way any particular church or religious leader sees it; that's for worshipers, clergy and the Almighty to work out. Marriage is not just a sacrament but also a contract, and the contractual aspect is a matter of statute, not scripture.

Obama took the "civil unions" route during last year's campaign and has stuck with it. While I see the political calculation -- that was basically the position of all the major Democratic candidates -- I never understood the logic. If semantics are the only difference between a civil union and a marriage, why go to the trouble of drawing a distinction? If there are genuine differences that the law should recognize, what are they?

It seems to me that equality means equality, and either you're for it or you're not. I believe gay marriage should be legal, and it's hard for me to imagine how any "fierce advocate of equality" could think otherwise.

Obama sensibly advocates the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." He should press the case by publicly reminding opponents of letting gays serve openly in the military that their arguments -- it would hurt morale, damage cohesion and readiness, discourage reenlistment -- are often the same, almost word for word, as the arguments made 60 years ago against racial integration in the armed forces. It was bigotry then, and it's bigotry now.

Obama should also make the obvious case that forcibly discharging capable, fully trained servicemen and servicewomen for being gay, at a time when our overstretched military is fighting two big wars, can only be described as insane.

What the president shouldn't do is stay away from the marriage debate on the grounds that it's not a matter for the federal government. For one thing, he's on record as favoring repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act -- a law that blocked federal recognition of same-sex marriages and relieved states of any obligation to recognize out-of-state gay marriages.

Does Obama's stance in favor of repeal mean that he believes the federal government should recognize same-sex marriages? Does he also believe that, say, the state of Alabama should recognize a gay marriage performed in Iowa? If so, what is the practical difference between this position and just saying in plain language that gay marriages ought to be legal and recognized in all 50 states?

I'm not being unrealistic. I know that public acceptance of homosexuality in this country is still far from universal. But attitudes have changed dramatically -- more than enough for a popular, progressive president to speak loudly and clearly about a matter of fundamental human and civil rights.

Digger comments:
Just this past week, the same-sex spouse of a person serving overseas was initially denied tamaflu, even though folks at post were showing symptoms and so EVERYONE ELSE at the mission was given tamaflu as a precaution. Another person's partner was denied a flu vaccine earlier in the season, even though post historically has ordered more doses than needed and had to throw them away! Once again, this demonstrates the second-class status Foreign Service members of household are forced to endure.

Some of this the Secretary can fix in the stroke of a pen, and she needs to do it sooner rather than later.

But much of it could be handled by our "fierce advocate." My partner had the right idea this morning. Instead of doing things piecemeal, President Obama needs to rip off the bandaid. He needs to do it all at once. Get rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell and DOMA and push for federal marriage all at once. Realistically, our enemies are only going to be able to fight back on one thing effectively, and that will be federal marriage. Then he can offer the compromise of federal civil unions. While that will still violate my freedom of religion (as a member of a mainstream prtestant denomination that recognizes same-sex marriage...so the government is in the business of decided which of the marriages my church performs it will recognize), at least it will mean I can visit my spouse in the hospital and if god forbid she died, not have to pay inheritance tax on my own propert.

Rip off the bandaid, Mr. President. There is never going to be a better time.

A State Department couple and the debate over federal benefits for same-sex partners of employees

From Government Executive:

FEATURES Foreign & Domestic
By Alyssa Rosenberg

A State Department couple and the debate over federal benefits for same-sex partners of employees.

Five years ago this March, Michelle Schohn joined the Foreign Service.

Diplomacy wasn't her initial field of choice; she already had a job as an archaeologist. But there was one very significant factor influencing her decision to change careers. Schohn's partner, Mary Glantz, already was a member of the Foreign Service. And when Glantz was posted overseas, things got complicated. The State Department classifies the spouses of gay and lesbian employees as "members of household," according them different benefits than heterosexual couples who are legally married.

Members of household are not eligible to participate in special early-round applications for jobs at embassies, as heterosexual spouses can. They cannot be covered by their partners' health insurance, so they are not guaranteed coverage when they go overseas. They do not have access to diplomatic posts' medical facilities. And if posts have to be evacuated, members of household are not guaranteed evacuation pay or subsidies to cover expenses.

"I was in a career I liked very much," says Schohn, now president of the organization Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies. But she was faced with the choice of either going overseas unemployed with her partner and without diplomatic protections, or quitting her job and joining the Foreign Service so she and Glantz could get equal treatment. "I didn't like either option," Schohn says.

She may be one of the few people ever to decide to join the federal government because of the way its employment policies distinguish between straight and gay couples. Often, the policies have the opposite effect. At a September 2008 Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, Frank A. Hartigan, a deputy regional director for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said if he were starting out in the job market again, he would look outside government for an employer that would allow him to add his partner to his health insurance. Soon, though, Schohn, Hartigan and thousands of other federal employees might not have to make such a choice.

A combination of events - including two court orders from California federal judges, the appointment of an Office of Personnel Management director with a long history of working to change policies that discriminate against gay and lesbian employees, and the inauguration of a president who has voiced support for expanding gay rights - have created a climate favorable to enacting domestic partner benefits for federal employees.

Beyond 'Chuck and Larry'

Every year since 1997, legislation called the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act has been introduced in Congress.

It would grant the domestic partners and legally married spouses of gay and lesbian federal employees access to benefits ranging from access to health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to full participation in relocation programs that are currently available only to married couples. The bill also would require same-sex couples to abide by the rules governing married couples, including nepotism regulations.

Despite the bill's long history, it kicked around from committee to committee without any forward momentum until last year, when Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who introduced the latest iteration in December 2007, held the first hearing on the legislation.

It was a largely tame event, without much in the way of partisan bickering or attempts to score points on either side of the culture war. The lone Republican attendee, Maine Sen. Susan M. Collins, was there to support the bill, and she even suggested broadening it to include heterosexual couples who are not married but live together in committed relationships.

There was little disagreement among the witnesses, four out of five of whom testified in support of the bill. The lone dissent came from OPM.

Howard C. Weizmann, then the deputy director of the agency in the waning months of the Bush administration, said OPM opposed the legislation on the grounds that it would be extremely difficult to determine the validity of relationships between same-sex couples in the absence of standard documentation, such as a marriage license. The risk that couples would commit fraud to get access to federal benefits is "not farfetched," Weizmann said, pointing to I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, a movie about two New York firefighters who fake a domestic partnership to protect their pension benefits.

His choice of examples sparked outrage from gay and lesbian federal government employees.

"Weizmann hadn't done his homework," says Leonard Hirsch, president of Federal GLOBE, the governmentwide affinity group for gay and lesbian employees. "It was a total embarrassment to the United States. That won't happen again."

The Berry Effect

Hirsch's prediction that OPM's reaction to the bill is likely to change is probably on the mark, although it's hard to tell officially, because OPM declined requests to comment for this article. What's certainly true is the next time the agency's representatives come before Congress to discuss the legislation, they will be looking at it from a different perspective.

The handover of the White House from Republicans to Democrats accounts for part of the change. In particular, President Obama's choice for OPM director, John Berry, will bring a new set of experiences and convictions to workforce policy.

Berry, who was confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate in early April, is the first openly gay agency head in the executive branch. His service as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget at the Interior Department during the Clinton administration provides a blueprint for how he might address issues facing gay and lesbian employees. At Interior, Berry instituted a full review of policies affecting gay workers, resulting in:

* Establishment of a grievance procedure for employees who say they experienced sexual-orientation discrimination.
* Expansion of relocation benefits and counseling services for domestic partners of Interior employees.
* Creation of a liaison to gay and lesbian employees.
* Elimination of a requirement that gay and lesbian applicants for law enforcement positions at the National Park Service undergo background checks.

Berry said at his confirmation hearing that he couldn't comment on specific issues until he was in office, but his expected support for the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act could give the legislation momentum when it is reintroduced in this session of Congress. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., was planning to introduce the bill this spring in the House and Lieberman and Collins are set to push it in the Senate.

External circumstances may encourage the legislators to move quickly. In January and February, two federal judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in California issued separate orders directing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to process benefits applications for the same-sex partners of two court employees, and to continue to process such applications on a routine basis. OPM has told the office that the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program is not set up to deal with such applications.

One of the judges has retained jurisdiction over his employee's benefits, and said he will issue additional orders to force the processing of benefits forms, setting up a potential clash between the executive and the judiciary branches.
The quickest way to avert that clash, Hirsch says, would be to pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act. Then OPM could discuss adding domestic partners with FEHBP providers when it makes its annual round of changes to the program during discussions that take place in the spring and summer.

"It's just simply going through the law and writing the regulations," Hirsch says. "That is normal procedure. It would take six months or so, but hopefully it would immediately impact internally to agencies their understanding of their obligations to [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered] employees."

Model Programs

But agencies and employee groups aren't simply waiting for Congress and the White House to act. Last year, the National Treasury Employees Union and FDIC reached an agreement to create a domestic partnership benefits program at the agency. FDIC is one of only a few agencies where federal unions negotiate pay and benefits issues, rather than simply bargain over working conditions. That created an opportunity for NTEU to push for a program that will allow gay and lesbian FDIC employees to enroll their partners in health, dental, vision and life insurance programs, and to include domestic partners and their children fully in relocation benefits programs.

NTEU president Colleen Kelley credits FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair, a Republican appointee, with supporting the program, which the labor leader says provides a model for the rest of federal government.

"That's what agencies should follow," she says. "We're in ongoing discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We're pursuing it in every avenue we have."
Other agencies are going through processes similar to the one Berry conducted at Interior in the 1990s. At the State Department, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies shortly after she took office and promised a review of the policies that affect them and their partners. In February, gay newsmagazine The Advocate reported that Clinton told town hall participants that the review was "on a fast timeline," suggesting that she might change State policy even before Congress acts.

Hirsch says Attorney General Eric Holder is conducting a similar review at the Justice Department. Other agencies could follow suit, indicating they would be ready to implement new benefits quickly if the domestic partnership legislation passes Congress.

Broader Effects

Extending federal benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees would make life easier for them. But would such a policy change have broader effects, such as making the government a more attractive place to work, both to potential applicants and current employees?

At Lieberman's hearing last fall, Weizmann said that in the private sector, less than 1 percent of employees at companies that offer domestic partnership benefits actually sign up for them. With such low participation rates, he said, it was a far leap to suggest that implementing such benefits would have any impact on recruitment or retention.

A 2008 report by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law predicted that 14,436 additional same-sex partners and children of federal employees would sign up for health benefits if the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act passed, increasing benefits spending by $60.4 million annually. The Congressional Budget Office put the price tag at $670 million over 10 years.

But Yvette C. Burton, business development executive at IBM, testified at Lieberman's hearing that domestic partnership benefits weren't simply a way to recruit and retain gay and lesbian employees.

"Like IBM, many companies report that implementation of domestic partnership benefits help to attract and retain crucial talent segments of non- LGBT employees," she said. "These particular candidates have reported that the existence of domestic partnership benefit policies like that at IBM demonstrate that the company truly values and respects all employees, that they protect all employees. . . . This trend is especially prevalent among younger candidates of the workforce, a segment crucial to the future demographics of any sector."

In the short term, the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act would have a big effect on federal employees like Michelle Schohn and Mary Glantz, who continually reassess their decision to stay in government.

"We make decisions on a tour-by-tour basis if we're going to stay in the department," Schohn says. "And we will stay in the department if the department allows us to stay together."

100 Days In, Still No Place At The Table

I have a confession. This blog suffers when I am thinking of leaving the Department and going back to archaeology. And I think of leaving the Department mostly when I am frustrated by the excruciatingly slow progress the Department makes in terms of addressing the inequities facing LGBT Foreign Service families.

This is made worse, not better, by having felt there was hope for change.

On Friday, the Secretary marked her 100th day with the Foreign Affairs Day celebration and Memorial commemoration. Now I know that the 100 days mantra is just a media creation. I get that. But really, it is a means to look at where priorities are in any administration. What do you care about enough to fix immediately.

Honestly, naively, I thought and hoped that the Secretary cared enough about her LGBT employees to do something quickly. We were on the "fast track," she said. She was presented with a letter signed by 2,200 of the foreign affairs community and with documents outlining what steps she could take with a mere stroke of the pen. Steps that weren't taken in the past only because a lack of political will, not because the steps were all that difficult. Recommendations for what she could do were described as being "on her desk" in late March. She has been such a long-time friend to the LGBT community that I really believed that change was imminent. That we had seen the last summer transfer season where gay and lesbian employees would be forced to pay to bring their partner to post so that the partner could live the life of second-class citizenship that is the Member of Household's lot. That the days of the Department paying for the shipment of a pet but not the travel of a partner were over.

But they are not.

One hundred days in and we still do not have a place at the table. One hundred days in and we are still, despite the meetings, the good words, the promise that she knew this was an issue of workplace fairness, second-class employees with second-class spouses. We still receive less pay for the same work than do our heterosexual colleagues, 63% of whom said in a recent survey that they support equal rights for same-sex spouses.

I am still waiting. We are still waiting. We are hoping our service will soon be as valued as our heterosexual colleagues' service. And in the meantime, I, and perhaps the other 700 or so people who have spouses who are only Members of Household and not eligible family members, are left contemplating how long they can remain in a job that forces them to choose their career over their family. You can read about the frustration facing LGBT families in "Speaking Out" in this month's issue of the Foreign Service Journal.

I hope we don't have to wait much longer.

Government Executive: Efforts to grant feds domestic partner benefits gain momentum

Efforts to grant feds domestic partner benefits gain momentum

By Alyssa Rosenberg
March 13, 2009

Pressure is mounting for the Office of Personnel Management to offer federal employees domestic partner benefits.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, plan to reintroduce the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, perhaps as early as this month, and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., will offer a similar proposal in the House. The bills would allow gay and lesbian federal employees to enroll their partners in health insurance and other benefits programs.

The issue also has gained urgency because federal judges in California recently ordered the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, which handles benefits applications for judicial branch employees, to grant the same-sex spouses of two court workers access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, said OPM, which administers FEHBP, was interpreting the laws governing the program too narrowly. Those laws spell out who should be covered under the federal plan. But Kozinski noted that the types of benefits listed under the laws -- such as coverage for spouses or dependent children up to age 22 -- should be considered minimum requirements.

OPM could decide to open the program to more people, the judge said in a Jan. 13 order directing the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to process benefits applications that would allow Karen Golinski, a 9th Circuit staff attorney, to add her wife to her health insurance plan. Kozinski said the office must continue processing benefits forms without regard for the sex of the spouse.

OPM officials have maintained that the agency cannot provide health care or other employer-based benefits to same-sex couples because of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from treating any same-sex relationships as marriages, even if those couples are married in states where it is legal.

But in a separate order on Feb. 2, 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt said the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and he directed the administrative office to process insurance forms for the husband of Brad Levenson, a deputy federal public defender. Reinhardt reiterated Kozinski's order to process benefits forms for any same-sex couples who applied for them, and retained jurisdiction over the matter "so that I may issue any further order that may be necessary to ensure that Levenson's spouse receives the benefits to which he is entitled."

Mike Orenstein, a spokesman for OPM, declined to comment on the impact of the California court orders, and referred a request for comment to the White House.

President Obama appointed National Zoo director John Berry to be OPM director on March 3, sparking speculation that if Berry is confirmed, the agency's stance on domestic partnership benefits could shift. Berry worked on a range of initiatives affecting benefits for and treatment of gay and lesbian federal employees during a stint as assistant secretary at the Interior Department under President Clinton.

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Obama, repeated an earlier statement to The New York Times, saying the president opposed full marriage rights for gay couples, but that all citizens should be treated with dignity and respect. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in his daily briefing on Friday that the White House will work with Congress on the issue.

Leslie Phillips, communications director for Lieberman on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the senator planned to reintroduce the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act soon.

"Our legislation would fix this very problem," Phillips said. "It would give OPM the explicit authority to do what they now say they don't have the authority to do."

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said she hoped OPM would consider following Kozinski's guidance and expanding its authority. She noted that the union had negotiated domestic partner health benefits coverage for employees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Workers there can bargain over pay and benefits because FDIC is not covered by the normal appropriations process. Kelley said the relative ease of expanding benefits at FDIC could serve as a model for other agencies and lawmakers.

"I think it would be great if OPM determines they have the authority and do it administratively," Kelley said. But she emphasized the need for a more permanent solution: "The good thing about legislation is once it's in the statute -- it can't be taken away."

Beth Moten, legislative director for the American Federation of Government Employees, said health care isn't the only issue that the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act would solve -- the legislation addresses retirement benefits, family leave, long-term care insurance and other benefits available to heterosexual married couples.

"AFGE strongly supports the Lieberman-Baldwin bill, which is about all benefits, not just health insurance," Moten said. "If it passes the Congress, we would certainly expect President Obama to sign it."

WP: Gay couples should be allowed to stay together in the United States

This editorial was in today's Washington Post.

Separation Anxiety
Gay couples should be allowed to stay together in the United States

THE UNITING American Families Act would allow gay and lesbian Americans and permanent residents to sponsor their foreign-born partners for legal residency in the United States. The bill, introduced last month in the Senate by Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and in the House by Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), would add "permanent partner" and "permanent partnership" after the words "spouse" and "marriage" in relevant sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If passed, it would right a gross unfairness.

Under the proposal, a "permanent partnership" is defined as a "committed, intimate relationship" with another adult "in which both parties intend a lifelong commitment." The couple must be financially interdependent and not married to or in a permanent partnership with anyone else. And the partners can't be related. The benefit comes with the same immigration restrictions and enforcement standards that apply to heterosexual couples. Fraudulent permanent partnerships face the same penalties as fake marriages: up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

"Under current law, committed same-sex foreign partners of American citizens are unable to use the family immigration system, which accounts for a majority of the green cards and immigrant visas granted annually by the United States," Mr. Leahy said upon introducing the bill. "The promotion of family unity has long been part of federal immigration policy, and we should honor that principle by providing all Americans the opportunity to be with their loved ones." According to the most recent census, he added, about 35,000 binational, same-sex couples are living in the United States. The new legislation would ensure that the family connections valued under immigration law are extended to gays and lesbians.

The strain of the status quo on gay and lesbian binational couples should not be discounted. Because their relationships are not legally recognized by the United States, some couples have resorted to illegal marriages where the foreign nationals marry Americans to get green cards that allow them to stay in the country permanently. In other cases, Americans have exiled themselves to be with their partners. Sixteen countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United Kingdom, allow residents to sponsor same-sex permanent partners for legal immigration. American gays and lesbians should not have to choose between their country and their partners.

Digger comments:
This is an issue of particular importance to gay and lesbians Foreign Service families.

Like their heterosexual colleagues, many LGBT Foreign Service officers go overseas and fall in love. But while their heterosexual colleagues can get legally married, and then apply for marriage-based immigration, LGBT foreign service officers can not. In fact, the foreign-born spouses of heterosexual foreign service officers can apply for expeditious naturalization, allowing them to become naturalized Americans more quickly and without the required time in the United States so that their spouse may continue to serve overseas as needed without jeopardizing their immigration status.

Of course, this also means that the Foreign Service officer with a heterosexual foreign-born spouse can serve in DC, which most people know is neccessary to advance their careers in the State Department. This is not an option for many LGBT foreign service officers, who end up spending their entire careers overseas to the deteriment of their ability to make connections in the Department and even to be promoted. Instead, they must choose to serve in places where they can be with their partners because it is too difficult to have their partners come back to DC with them for any length of time. It also means that Foreign Service Officers can not retire to the country they have loved and served without abandoning the partner who supported them in their service.

It is time to fix this.

Gay Rights Percolating to Top of Obama's To-Do List

I found this piece today at Heidi Patriot.

Gay Rights Percolating to Top of Obama's To-Do List

DURING THE CAMPAIGN then-candidate Obama made some fairly sweeping commitments to the gay community expressing his support for the repeal of the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and "Don't Ask - Don't Tell" military policy. Although he had probably hoped for a bit more time before making good on these campaign promises, events have played out differently. The President now faces some tough choices if he is to make good on his word.

Obama's gay supporters have already been disappointed by a handful of unintentional but nevertheless hurtful missteps during the Inauguration. The first, and biggest, was the controversial selection of Rick Warren, a mega-church pastor and perceived champion of anti-gay causes, to give the Inauguration's invocation. To compensate for the offense this did to gay backers, the Inaugural committee invited gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to give the opening prayer at an open-air inaugural concert earlier in the week. Unfortunately, this backfired when HBO failed to broadcast the prayer, only starting its broadcast of the concert afterwards. In a scramble, the committee ensured the prayer was included in subsequent broadcasts and apologized for the "oversight", but the damage was already done.

In fairness to the campaign, Rick Warren is not the most virulent of anti-gay campaigners; Melissa Ethridge and he had a very public back-and-forth in which she ultimately expressed her opinion that he was someone the gay movement needed to continue a dialogue with; and the whole Gene Robinson affair appears to have been a blunder, not a slight. The real issues are now coming front-and-center, and there is little wiggle-room for Team Obama this time.

Issue one is the whole matter of granting health care and other rights to the gay partners of Federal employees. Obama has expressed his commitment to overturning DOMA, which conservatives claim was designed expressly to ensure the denial of such benefits. Groups such as GLIFAA, the gay and lesbian association for foreign affairs personnel, have been urging Secretary of State Clinton and the administration to re-interpret DOMA more literally so as to loosen up some of the restrictions on gay foreign service officers. (As things stand now, the U.S. government will pay to send diplomats' pets overseas, but not their life partners.) Simultaneously, a Federal court in California recently decided that benefits needed to be extended to same-sex partners of court employees -- which runs completely contrary to the current policy of the Office of Personnel Management. Secretary Clinton has promised to review the policy on benefits, while President Obama has stated publicly that his appointment to run OPM -- not yet confirmed -- shares a commitment to extend benefits to same-sex partners. But a wary gay community wants action, not words.

Issue number two involves another Clinton-era legacy, "Don't Ask - Don't Tell." In early March it was revealed that the military undertook a mini-purge of gay enlistees in the final days of the Bush Administration, at a time when the army's recruitment numbers are down and its commitments expanded. The Bush Pentagon waged a low-level war against gay soldiers over the past eight years, firing among others a large number of skilled (but homosexual) Arab linguists. Many hoped President Obama would immediately suspend "Don't Ask - Don't Tell" but that has yet to happen. Secretary of Defense Gates, however, has made some conciliatory statements indicating a possible review of the policy -- but he was the same Secretary Gates who overseas the January purge.

Many pundits have been claiming these gay battles are the last thing Obama needs right now, and cite the disastrous attempts by President Clinton to overturn the ban on gays in the military in the first months of his presidency. Some express concern that by taking a firm stand for gay rights, Obama will alienate the very Republicans he needs to pass his ambitious program of economic, health, and entitlement reform.

Nothing could be further off the mark. Clinton, elected with well shy of 50 percent of the vote, never had the approval ratings Obama does at this point in his presidency, and anyway, it was his prevaricating on the issue, rather than the issue itself, that ultimately resulted in the muddled "Don't Ask - Don't Tell" compromise. With his approval ratings hovering in the high 60 percentile, and solid majorities in both the House and the Senate, President Obama can afford to do this with plenty of room to spare. The military doesn't even seem wholeheartedly opposed gay servicemen and -women -- after seven years fighting in the trenches of Afghanistan and Iraq with them, they are viewed as loyal colleagues, not fifth column deviants. Colin Powell has even expressed support for binning the policy.

Postponing decisive action on such a political hot potato will ensure nothing will be done for another four years. President Obama owes it to his loyal gay following to start acting on his campaign promises to extent equality to the gay community. And Secretary Clinton, for her part, can begin atoning for the sins of her husband's triangulation (remember, he signed DOMA into law after the Republican majority passed it) by ordering an immediate overhaul of the State Department's policy towards same-sex partners as GLIFAA has requested.