I know this has been covered by several other sites today, but I still wanted to dedicate a short post to the internal State Department memo written by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing the extension of benefits to the same-sex partners of Foreign Service officers. There is no word on when it will take effect, but this kind of progress is very heartening. So much of the recent mainstream debate about gay rights has been focused on same-sex marriage at the expense of recognizing how much work needs to be done to advance equality in the realm of things like partnership benefits and job discrimination.
Secretary Clinton has previously said, “I view this as an issue of workplace fairness, employee retention, and the safety and effectiveness of our embassy communities worldwide.” But the extension of benefits had previously been denied by those who invoked the Defense of Marriage Act that limits federal recognition of any kind of same-sex partnership. The effects of benefit extension would cover areas like “diplomatic passports, use of medical facilities at overseas posts, medical and other emergency evacuation, transportation between posts, and training in security and languages” — all things that are currently available to partners of heterosexual Foreign Service officers. Additionally, it could change the extant policy where “diplomats with domestic partners could be evacuated from a hazardous country by the American government while their partners were left behind.” Hopefully this will go through soon and survive any legislative challenges that might possibly arise.
This makes me very hopeful, given that I’ve also heard recently that the Obama administration is planning on making several big GLBT-rights announcements during June, around the time that Pride events happen. From what I read, the queer community has felt somewhat betrayed by Obama’s silence and lack of action on DADT and marriage equality — I hope this is a sign that the administration as a whole is moving in a more positive direction.
I’m not queer, and I’ve been bothered by O’s silence, even as I realize that financial meltdown and war and such are important, too. It just feels like “homos to the back of the bus!” I am thrilled that Hills is pushing for equal rights for foreign service officers, and I hope that it sets a sort of precedent for NGOs and corporations who haven’t already extended such rights, as well as making the argument (on the federal and state level) that marriage equality is about protection and benefits for families, not about who/how people fuck.
YAY!
This was a significant item on my wish-list for Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.
People kept telling me it would never happen because DOMA forbids the federal government from spending money on queers as if we were entitled to human rights. Er, I mean, that the federal government is forbidden to treat same-sex relationships as marriages. So, I have some fear about that, and am going to be tense until I hear an actual date for the policy to come into effect.
But, YAY! Michael Guest (mentioned at the end of that NYT article) was on the cover of the Advocate a bit over a year ago and this problem has been itching at me ever since. So I’m quite delighted to see this getting addressed.
I know people think things are moving fast enough, but TRUST, it WILL happen!
And that’s all I can say about that.
@PhDork: If you see Obama putting women and the LBQT community at the back of the bus, then you’re more optimistic than me. I worry more about being thrown under the bus. But I look forward to be proven wrong in June and beyond.
The idea that a US gov employee could be evacuated while their same-sex partner is left behind… that’s terrifying. And a major impediment to keeping high-quality employees who are also gay.