【卫报】Obama to extend benefits for gay federal workers

magicboy

Obama to extend benefits for gay federal workers
Same-sex partners to get access to health benefits amid protests that president has not done enough for gay people
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/17/barack-obama-gay-rights-federal-workers
Ewen MacAskill    Wednesday 17 June 2009 10.46 BST



President Barack Obama is today to extend the rights of gay men and women by giving same-sex partners of federal workers access to health and other benefits.

Obama is scheduled to sign an executive order at the White House today. The concession comes amid expressions of disappointment that Obama has not yet tackled the ban on gay people serving openly in the military.

On the campaign trail, Obama also disappointed the gay community by backing only civil unions and not same-sex marriage.

The White House is following the lead of the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who extended benefits to the partners of gay people working in her department.

Several powerful gay fundraisers have withdrawn their support from a Democratic National Committee event where the vice-president, Joe Biden, is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a justice department brief last week that defended the Defence of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian criticism. Justice lawyers argued that the law allowed states to reject marriages performed in other states or countries that defied their own standards.

The legal arguments – including citing incest and sex with minors – sparked rebellion among gay and lesbian activists who had been largely biting their tongues since Obama won the election. They had objected to the evangelist Rick Warren being invited to participate in the inauguration despite his support for repealing gay marriage in California.

Their January protest won an invitation for Gene Robinson, whose consecration as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop divided and almost split his denomination.

Gay men and lesbians later fretted as the White House declined to intervene in the cases of enlisted military members facing courts martial for defying the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Under it, the military does not ask recruits about their sexual orientation, while service members are banned from saying they are gay or engaging in homosexual activity.

White House officials say they want Congress to repeal the policy as part of a "lasting and durable" solution, instead of intervening in individual cases.
The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said last month that the president agreed that "the policy wasn't working for our national interests, that he committed to change that policy, that he's working with the secretary of defence and the joint chiefs on making that happen".

In the meantime, the administration has tried to make small, quiet moves to extend benefits to gay men and lesbians. The state department has promised to give partners of gay and lesbian diplomats many benefits, such as diplomatic passports and language training.

But without a specific change in the federal employees' health benefits programme, Hillary Clinton's promises left out financial benefits such as pensions. Obama's move could make that shift.