The memo-- Whitehouse.gov just released a statement

[Aloha Spirit]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Fact-Sheet-Presidential-Memorandum-on-Federal-Benefits-and-Non-Discrimination/

I'm not going to comment yet except to say I think it reveals something about the timeframe in which such action has been planned.

....The Memorandum follows a review by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management ant the Secretary of State regarding what benefits may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees in the civil service and the foreign service within the confines of existing federal laws and statutes.

Over the past several months, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State have conducted internal reviews to determine whether the benefits they administer may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees within the confines of existing laws and statutes. Both identified a number of such benefits.....

[Indydem]

1. "Personnel Management ant the Secretary of State"

Typo from the White House? Someone needs to proofread.

[Aloha Spirit]

3. lol spellcheckgate.

[Cant trust em]

6. I know, right.

Spell check only catches words that are spelled incorrectly. Not correctly spelled words that don't make sense.

[Aloha Spirit]

12. happens to me awl the time.

[bain_sidhe]

40. Yes, spell check is your fiend!

I used it on the subject line and now I can be confident that every word is spelled correctly.

[incapsulated]

2. Looks good, long-term insurance, sick leave...

"For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children. For foreign service employees, a number of benefits were identified, including the use of medical facilities at posts abroad, medical evacuation from posts abroad, and inclusion in family size for housing allocations."

:thumbsup:

[Aloha Spirit]

10. I would really like to know how these benefits fit within the existing law,

and if it works because these benefits can be extended to non-spouses.

[incapsulated]

11. I don't know but....

It seems unlikely that long-term care insurance would be a benefit civil servants can get for non-spouses?

[LostinVA]

15. Well yes, they can -- opposite sex non-married partners can get it

[incapsulated]

19. Really? What makes them qualify as a "partner"?

Just curious.

If that is the case, well then it's more about there being no restrictions than co-opting a hetro only policy.

[Ohio Joe]

4. If I am understanding this correctly

President Obama is saying that unless there is a specific law preventing a benefit to non-hetero's, he wants them extended now.

Is that correct?

[incapsulated]

7. "within the confines of existing laws and statutes"

Yes, I think so.

[DuaneBidoux]

8. DOMA prevents retirement and health benefits from going to same sex partners

I didn't realize how nasty DOMA was until I read this morning.

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. What benefits are same-sex partners eligible for if health and retirement are excluded?

:shrug:

[DuaneBidoux]

56. Well, apparently it is any little "detail" that they foregot to cover in DOMA

Apparently there are, for example, certain moving expences of the partner that can be deducted if the partner who works for the federal government is being transfered. From what I can tell, it is a lot of little things like that. For example if there is a need to hire a taxi or some form of transportation for the functioning of the employee then, regardless of who is being literally served for the transportation, as long as it helps them both it is okay.

It is literally like there are these crumbs that have been dropped because of the way DOMA was written and anything that didn't get covered and fell through those cracks can be covered.

It is not really Obama's fault, his hands really are tied by DOMA.

[ZombieHorde]

5. A good start. nt

[Soylent Brice]

9. K&R

[FreeState]

13. It's not enough - and it's not changing GLBT persons minds

It's a nice touch that they can't even utter the word transgendered.

[Kaylee]

22. Wait......whut?

Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't transgendered couples be covered under same sex (or "hetero" for that matter) couples?

[vaberella]

30. It's not supposed to. They've been working on this since Obama was first President.

Note them saying, "months" in the memorandum. So this wasn't to change any minds but to work towards LGBT rights that are within the law.

[FreeState]

38. All of this could have been done on on day 1

What little this does had already been researched by GLBT groups years ago.

[Cha]

43. Yes, it's obvious you don't

appreciate it.

[LooseWilly]

14. Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like a crumb at best.

Then again... I've never had any benefits like those outlined... so maybe I underestimate the value of being able to take sick leave to take care of a "not quite spouse" (as Federal Law seems to be labeling same sex partners)... and I can't even come up with a reasonable guess as to what the hell long term care insurance is.

I'll be interested to see the "outrage" from the right about "You just cost me Money." benefits (which were, interestingly enough, argued against in the Smelt brief in just those terms)...

[vaberella]

16. SO THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MONTHS?! I thought people said Obama didn't care about LGBT rights?

That he wasn't doing enough? So he's been working on this for months?! Thanks.

[Beacool]

17. Interesting to read who spearheaded this review.

The Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State.

:eyes:

[vaberella]

18. Wouldn't it be under the Obama Administration though and under his direction?!

I think so. Those departments reviewed the case to manage it under existing laws. :eyes:

[Beacool]

20. Actually, the review started some time ago at State.

Hillary sped it along when she became SOS.

[vaberella]

26. Uh yeah...when Obama became President.

Unless what you're trying to say is that HRC did it all on her and under her own initiative. That Obama played no role except maybe to release this memorandum and/or to sign the order (whatever degree it is)---because that's really the impression you're giving. What I notice you do often and I see you doing here...is to thoroughly discredit Obama and anything he was probably pushing and moved on to the appropriate department to review. He did this before with regards to the torture cases and Eric Holder. There are departments that handle it...so there's ample proof to say that Obama was the one who spearheaded the case and then transferred it along to the corresponding department for review, sinc, well that's their job. Or is that an impossibility for you? This is considering her department along with OPM reviewed the laws to make sure this was not breaking any current laws.

[lindisfarne]

57. Hear Hear! n/t

[Baltoman991]

37. My my my

It's a shame that HRC got over so easily but her followers can't seem to follow suit. I give all the credit in the world for the job she's doing. But they are working together as a team, as it should be, unlike what you're implying here in your posts.

[4lbs]

24. Pretty much. Unlike the "Department of Justice", the "Office of Personnel Management" and the

"Secretary of State" (i.e. "State Department") are under the White House umbrella.

Unlike the DOJ, those two offices/departments MUST report what they're doing to the President.

[vaberella]

28. ~sigh~ Thanks 4lbs...you've made my fave list for the information.

That's what I had thought. Thanks for the confirmation.

[Number23]

55. Yes, but that detracts from the idea that somehow Hillary is "up" on these issues more than Obama

Any government agency that does something that is perceived as "bad" becomes "OBAMA's" government agency;

Any government agency that does something that is perceived as "good" becomes "Whoever runs its" government agency.

[Aloha Spirit]

23. If you recall, Obama appointed John Berry in early March

and when he was approved by Congress, he became the highest ranking openly gay person to ever work in the Executive Branch.
I think Obama and Clinton had this and much more planned for a long time!

[vaberella]

29. Most people thought he was sitting on his ass when it came to LGBT rights. n/t

[zulchzulu]

31. It is never good enough for you?

I thought Obama hated gays and wasn't doing anything... oh wait, except that he WAS working on this for months. MONTHS!

Are you blaming Obama for the Justice Department DOMA brief even though the Executive Branch is not the DOJ, yet his members of his Cabinet who work for him are somehow not directly connected, even though they work for him?

Wow. Selective subjective outrage must be fun!

:crazy:

[Beacool]

32. I never said he hated gays.

Don't put words in my mouth. Furthermore, I didn't condemn Obama for the DOJ's DOMA brief. I just think that Hillary is far more gay friendly than Obama.

Oh, he'll do the right thing sooner or later, he needs them next election. Same as the left, they'll get a bone thrown at them here and there. Got to keep the base happy.

;-)

[lindisfarne]

58. Her husband wasn't very. You'd think she would have exerted a stronger influence

over the years. n/t

[indigo32]

33. ' thought Obama hated gays and wasn't doing anything... oh wait, except that he WAS working on this

color me underwhelmed at the product of 'months' worth of effort.

[vaberella]

36. He's only been President for months.

That being said, we don't know how many things he's been working on for LGBT for months. We didn't even know this was being worked on until....hmmm...today. Did you know before hand? So how do you know there are not a slew of moves he's trying to make in regards to this that we're not privy too as of yet. But of course, Obama is not doing anything for LGBT. I think that's a good meme to stick too.

[indigo32]

39. I acknowledged that he did this

so obviously I'm not sticking to any such meme.
Sorry if I cannot just take someones word that he's 'working on it' I can only go on what I HAVE seen, and it hasn't been good, sorry to tell you. Don't bother with the talking points. I'm familiar with all of them already. thx.

[Cant trust em]

42. I find it ironic that those who support Obama are just using talking points

yet those who don't support him are somehow free thinkers. If you've got a point, that's fine. But don't disregard others just because it happens to disagree with yours.

[indigo32]

47. who said I didn't support Obama

I wish he supported me as much. Nor did I make an overall insination that non-supporters are the only free-thinkers. If you or anyone else has something NEW to add to the discussion re Obamas and his GLBT constituency I'm happy to hear it.

[Cant trust em]

48. And vice versa.

We all can predict what each other can say, so should we just shut down conversation?

[dsc]

34. the hypocrites are on your side of the street here, nor ours

Unlike you, we give blame and credit to all actions of his administration not just those that are convenient for our cause. The fact is this is not all that great unless it is accompanied by Obama, not some flunky, but Obama, calling for a law to get the rest of the benefits such as health care which are denied as of now. He deserves some credit, at 5:45 we can see how much credit he actually deserves.

[mkultra]

35. The Adminstration is solid

Things will all shake out in due time.

[Hippo_Tron]

50. Well the State Department does have a lot of employees

[Beacool]

54. And the others what, they are understaffed?

:eyes:

[Hippo_Tron]

59. I forgot the...

:sarcasm:

Kudos to the Secretary of State for playing a key role in this.

[Hutzpa]

But.... But.... he hate gays

and he wants to eat their babies....:P

[vaberella]

27. That's what I thought. But he's been working on this for MONTHS!

Do you think people are eating crow? Probably not, since many are saying it's not enough. But it's within the boundaries of the bloody law.

[ecstatic]

44. Impossible! He is just doing this to get the DNC fundraiser back on track!

Well, at least according to some on DU....

[Hutzpa]

21. But.... But.... he hate gays

and he wants to eat their babies....:P

[Still Sensible]

41. This is something and I am glad he's doing it, I just

wish he would at the very least also suspend enforcement of DADT until such time as the policy can be legislatively changed. Of course legislative destruction of DOMA needs to happen too, but I really think the executive order on DADT should be doable now. Part of their thinking may be that if Obama does that Congress might well figure they don't need to do anything since nobody is being kicked out anymore. It's probably a politically valid point of view because the Congressweasels will use any excuse to NOT deal with an issue, especially one as sensitive as this. The incredibly high frustration level is understandable.

[jenmito]

45. Gibbs was just asked if Obama still holds the same positions he held on DADT and DOMA

as before the election, and he answered, paraphrasing, and in part, "As he did when he was a Senator, a Democratic nominee, and now as president, he remains committed to repealing both of those acts." And Contessa Brewer said Gibbs ALSO said even though they have so much on their plate, repealing DADT and DOMA "remains a priority."

I trust him to keep his word.

[vaberella]

46. +1. n/t

[jenmito]

52. Thanks, vaberella. n/t

[Clio the Leo]

49. + infinity. NT

[jenmito]

51. Wow, thanks! I never got one of those before!

:hi:

[Clio the Leo]

53. well crap, I thought I'd just made something new up! lol NT

[Phx_Dem]

60. This isn't surprising, except maybe to the crowd who wrongly thinks

Obama doesn't care about gays. It's so much more fun to bitch about everything.