The New York Times on Tuesday called Obama out for his about-face support of the Defense of Marriage Act:
The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much, actually struck a blow for the other side last week. It submitted a disturbing brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law that protects the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages and denies same-sex married couples federal benefits. The administration needs a new direction on gay rights.
Later that same day, the Washington Post reported on its website (and then in Wednesday's paper) that the administration would extend federal benefits to unmarried partners of federal workers. Will that appease LGBT Democratic liberals, who have shown themselves extremely easy to appease in the name of party unity? Stay tuned.
More. The Wall Street Journal clarifies, "The president doesn't have the power to grant gay and lesbian partners of federal workers health care and many other benefits." That's because "The government is prevented from granting many federal benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act." But, the Journal adds, "he could take other steps, such as offering family services like language training and evacuation assistance for State Department workers." Woo-hoo!
But fear not. For Pride week, Obama is signing a directive banning discrimination against LGBT federal workers (Clinton signed an executive order covering gay workers and Bush left it in place; Obama's directive includes the transgendered). Change we can believe in!
8 Comments for “No DOMA Repeal, But Fringe Benefits for Federal Workers. Now Be Quiet and Write Me More Checks”
posted by Bryan on
As insulting as this is, and as much as I want to stay furious with the Obama administration, the truth is that he and the Democrats are really the only game in town. Despite the recent actions of the administration, this really is the most putblicly pro-gay president we have ever had. Until the Republicans offer anything of substance to advance gay rights, Democratic complacency is something that will have to be tolerated
posted by Bobby on
“Democratic complacency is something that will have to be tolerated”
—Why? If the democrats won’t deliver anything on gay rights why not just vote republican? Look at Obama, in 100 days he has managed to spend more money than all the US presidents combined, he’s running GM, dictating executive pay at companies that have gotten financial bailouts, now he wants to spend a trillion dollars to give uninsured people health insurance, he fired an inspector general just becuase hte guy was investigating the mayor of Oakland (a friend of Obama), so what are we getting?
We’re getting a bigger government that taxes more, hurts successful gays, ignores crucial issues like DADT, will create inflation and is weak on security. At this juncture, wouldn’t we have been better of with McCain?
“the truth is that he and the Democrats are really the only game in town.”
—Even if you only care about gay rights and nothing else, the democratic party is not delivering. You might as well cut your loses and vote republican.
posted by Lenny on
Not good enough. Join Facebook Democratic party fundraising boycott.
posted by Lenny on
Boycott here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=97997751331&ref=mf
posted by Barry Deutsch on
At a Federal level, neither party will deliver, so neither one deserves support on this basis. Better to withhold votes and money from both major parties, from a gay rights perspective. (At a state level, Democrats have been doing a better job in some states).
The question is, can either party be successfully pressured into becoming a better gay rights party? I don’t know. The mood among the liberal gay dems I’ve been reading is that they want commitment to real movement on DOMA or DADT; right now, at least, no one seems in the mood to be bought off by relatively minor adjustments.
posted by Last Of The Moderate Gays on
Simply put, this is SOP for the Dems. Anyone who is surprised at this simply isn’t living in reality.
They’re exactly like that shitty boyfriend . . . They seduce you with sweet nothings about how wonderful you are, how they understand, etc. Then, once you are no longer “useful” (day after election), they are long gone. I guess the only thing that’s shocking is that he’s not as slick at outright lying as Saint Hillary and her hubbie, Mr. No Morals-Happy Pants are. Perhaps he needs to take lying lessons from them?
” . . . the truth is that he and the Democrats are really the only game in town.”
WRONG. There are plenty of third-party candidates out there who are far more genuine about REAL gay rights than the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb parties. Instead of once again voting for the lesser of two evils this past election, I freed myself & voted for a third-party candidate. It was truly a liberating experience. Remember, every revolution begins with a spark.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Brian: ““Democratic complacency is something that will have to be tolerated.”
While the Republican Party has fiercely opposed gay and lesbian equality in the last decade, and shows few signs of changing anytime soon, that does not mean that gays and lesbians have to tolerate Democratic complacency.
We need to take just the opposite course. We need to keep the pressure on Democrats at local, state and national levels, holding Democrats to their campaign promises and keeping their feet to the fire.
More to the point, we have to keep in mind that we are not going to get anything that we don’t gain through our own work. We can’t count on straight folks and we can’t count on the politicians straight folks elect. Equality under the law for gays and lesbians is a talking point to gay-friendly politicians, something to be put off and set aside while they deal with other, “more important” issues, issues, that is, that directly affect straight folks.
I don’t often agree with Stephen – his persistent call to back off on marriage and work for civil unions, for example, was wrongheaded, and he often seems to me to be more interested in accommodating the Republican right wing than focusing on equality – but he has been consistently right in arguing that gays and lesbians should not get in bed with and become beholden to the Democratic Party, but instead remain independent and keep the pressure on both parties.
We’ve made great gains in recent years. Gays and lesbians can marry in six states, and marriages contracted in those states are recognized in several other states. We’ve won over the American people on DADT, however limp-wristed national Democrats might be about standing up and eliminating it. Federal even-handedness in recognizing state same-sex marriage will come soon if we keep the pressure on and don’t flinch or get distracted.
We’ve taken our knocks, too — California comes to mind — but the “great backlash” that Stephen and other naysayers predicted as a reason to back off the fight hasn’t happened and won’t happen. The hard-core fag-haters who were supposed to lead the backlash have been increasingly marginalized by the work we’ve done, and that is going to continue.
I’m old enough to have lived through the entire post-Stonewall fight as an adult, and I’m not a polyanna. I know, firsthand, how tough this has been and how tough it is going to be. We are in a fight that is going to be long, hard and expensive. Little by slowly, we are winning over the American people. We’ve done it ourselves, without much in the way of help from either party, and that is one thing that isn’t going to change.
We need to keep the pressure on, everywhere and on every issue, and that includes keeping the pressure on our so-called “leaders”, who are, for the most part, cautious politic insiders like Joe Solmonese, who will do nothing that is not “safe”. The reaction to Ted Olson and David Boies — “Oh my God, you can’t do this … we have a carefully planned strategy … you’ll upset the apple cart …” — is, sadly, typical. Same old, same old. If gays and lesbians listened to those folks in the forty years since Stonewall, we’d be nowhere much right now.
We will always have those, gay/lesbian and straight alike, who counsel “not now”. We shouldn’t listen. We need to keep up the fight, and fight hard.
If you want equality, get out of the closet, get involved in the party of your choice, challenge your neighbors, and don’t take “not now” for an answer, not from anybody.
posted by Elizabeth on
Gays should at least stop giving their money and volunteering their time to the Democrats. They should be giving to local, grass-roots based gay rights groups instead. What a huge mistake that was for the gays to give so much of their money and time to Obama instead of focusing on Prop 8 in California. Maine and Washington state are now facing voter referenda. To spend money and time on the Democrats when we can support campaigns that fight for the rights of gay people directly is a huge waste.