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Obama's Gay Benefits Order to Exclude Health Care

By Jeralyn

Update: The White House has released a statement. Note no health insurance benefits:

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.

More on President Obama's planned executive order on extending benefits to same sex partners of federal employees: It excludes most health care benefits. Via Politico:[More...]

However, the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government from extending health and retirement benefits to same-sex couples, so the benefits are more likely to be marginal -- like relocation assistance.

Markos at Daily Kos:

The DNC needs to reschedule next week's gay fundraiser until after the administration gets its act together on its plan for gay rights. I'm pretty confident the administration eventually will, but until it does, out of simple common courtesy, it should refrain from treating the gay community like an ATM. [More...]

On filing the DOMA brief, this is less than comforting:

A White House spokesman said that it was standard practice for the administration to back laws that are challenged in court — even those it does not agree with...

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).