Scraps
In around 15 minutes President Obama will be announcing a new extension to employment benefits for domestic partners of Federal employees. Woo. And indeed, Hoo.
Given that the extent of the change has already been announced, a great many commentators are already noting that this is pretty much the scraps from the table. In brief:
- It’s a ‘memorandum’, not an Executive Order, meaning it ceases to have any effect when he leaves office.
- The single biggest benefit that could ideally be provided, medical cover, can’t be provided because of (all together now) DOMA, which expressly prohibits recognising gay partnerships, and which, let’s not forget, the President’s administration aggressively defended just five days ago.
- The single largest group of Federal employees is the Armed Forces. The armed forces will be barred from applying for such scraps of benefit as this memorandum will offer because, hmmm, how does this go again? Oh yes, they’d have to say they were lesbian or gay, and then they’d be fired under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
The New York Times covered this story today, noting that, contrary to the assertions of those advocacy groups in bed with Obama that he has a grand plan for LGBT rights, the details of even this sop were hurridly being worked out last night. They also quote a White House source as explicitly linking this action with the need to try and rescue the fundraiser I mentioned yesterday.
The whole thing reeks of panic and ill-considered policy from the self-proclaimed ‘fierce advocate’ for LGBT rights, and I’m glad to note that it doesn’t feel like anyone except those already on the inside is buying it.
EDIT: It gets better. Turns out that every benefit the President is going to talk about is already available for every Federal agency to provide to its employees and many, if not all, already do. The only effect of this memorandum is going to be to tell them to do it.