Obama extends partner benefits to same-sex couples

President Barack Obama signs the Presidential Memo on Benefits and Non-Discrimination. The White House Fact Sheet on the memo is here. Previous coverage is here and here. The memo is here (PDF).

The event was carried live on CNN. The President used the opportunity to explain health care and retirement coverage are not included in the suite of benefits and, for the first time since taking office, publicly renewed calls to repeal DOMA. The President said: "We all have to acknowledge this is only one step. Among the steps we have not yet taken is to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. I believe it's discriminatory, I think it interferes with states' rights, and we will work with Congress to overturn it."

In related news: Gender identity will become a protected class in federal hiring and promotions. On the White House conference call this afternoon, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, the highest-ranking openly gay in the Obama Administration said this on trans federal employees: "Gender identity will be added and made very clear in our guidance to federal agencies. Our argument is that is based on legal authority ... that way it does not limit itself to the term of an administration. That is a new approach and a new argument."

Berry admits the benefits being offered today to same-sex partners have been previously available, but, says they were granted at a supervisor's discretion. "If you have an enlightened supervisor, yes, that is a possibility. What the president is doing today is making sure this is no longer optional. He's making this mandatory ... it's now the policy of the federal government. This is the president of the United States confirming a mandate."

Via Law Dork and CNN, watch President Obama sign the memo. Also catch up on links to what other bloggers and gay organizations say about today's actions.

Pam's House Blend posts an open thread and describes the fact sheet as "an exercise in low expectations."

Queerty is not nearly impressed and calls it "a step in the right direction, yes, but it's not nearly enough."

Law Dork wraps the legal ramifications of the memo.

The Human Rights Campaign says it's a "welcome and long overdue" step: "We commend President Obama and his administration for taking this beginning step to level the playing field but we look forward to working with him to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and guarantee the entire American workforce is free from discrimination."

SLDN is not impressed: "What the President failed to mention today was that not all LGBT employees will receive these benefits. Gay and lesbian service members, employees of the federal government, will not be eligible to receive these benefits under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Ironically, Obama said he wants to "retain the best talent" to serve our country. Yet he won't speak out publicly against DADT, the law that fires the best and brightest from the military because they're gay or lesbian."

People for the American Way calls it a "token" measure. "Today's presidential memorandum is a very small step in the right direction, but it's a token, and tokens are no longer enough. DOMA stands in the way of real progress for same-sex couples now denied federal recognition and protection, and its repeal is long overdue. .. We urge the president to live up to his own rhetoric about being a 'fierce advocate' for gay and lesbian Americans."

National LGBT Bar Association calls it an "important first step": ""We applaud the President's memo as an important first step toward workplace equality for government employees. But there is still much more to be accomplished. The president's action should spur Congress to finish the job and pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act."

[Original Entry]