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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Politics / Homo What the President Is About to Announce

Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 2:41 PM

This was just sent out by the White House. I spotted a typo and that usually means there's more.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2009

Fact Sheet: Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination

In an Oval Office event later today, President Barack Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. 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.

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.

The Presidential Memorandum to be signed today will request that the Director of OPM and the Secretary of State act to extend to same-sex partners of federal employees the benefits they have identified. The Memorandum will also request the heads of all other executive branch departments and agencies to conduct internal reviews to determine whether other benefits they administer might be similarly extended, and to report the results of those reviews to the Director of OPM.

The Memorandum will also direct OPM to issue guidance within 90 days to all executive departments and agencies regarding compliance with, and implementation of, the civil service laws, which make it unlawful to discriminate against federal employees or applicants for federal employment on the basis of factors not related to job performance.

John tears it apart at Salon:

Tonight, President Fierce will try to make amends by signing either a memorandum, a directive or an executive order, directing some federal agencies, but not others, to provide some benefits, but not others, to some gay federal employees, but not others, at some undisclosed time in the future. (And the benefits may reportedly go away when Obama leaves office.)

First problem, federal agencies already have the right to provide these benefits to gay employees — and several, including at least one DOD agency, do. Second problem, the administration can’t tell us exactly which benefits they’re talking about and for which employees. That’s because this was all hastily thrown together after the incestuous and pedophilic gays nearly brought down a Democratic National Committee gay pride fundraiser scheduled for next week. A gay blogger got hold of the event’s guest list and published it, and once D.C.’s gay paper, the Washington Blade, announced that it would be staking out the entrance to the event with camera and video, the $1,000 a head attendees started dropping like flies.

In other words, the only reason we're getting anything: The gay ATM ran dry.

Don't get me wrong. Some federal employees getting some benefits at some future point is definitely something. But it's not an answer to why this president directed his Department of Justice to defend a law he previously opposed when he didn't have to. It doesn't explain why the DOMA brief linked a key Democratic constituency to pedophilia and incest. Or why this president has already overseen the discharge of 253 gay service members, and has refused to issue a stop-loss order ceasing those discharges. Or why he won't lift a finger to push Congress to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Comments (36) RSS

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Word is that John totally embarrassed himself on that conference call with Berry.

Posted by Kevin Erickson on June 17, 2009 at 2:44 PM

How is this NOT a step in the right direction, Savage? I understand being frustrated, but this should be celebrated with cautious optimism. You just sound like a petulant child. And don't talk about typos. You can barely speak the fucking language, Mr. "EDITOR".

Posted by woooot on June 17, 2009 at 2:48 PM

Man, days like this I miss ECB and all the non-gay staffers at The Stranger .... it's like OMG let's overreact to every little thing week ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 17, 2009 at 2:55 PM

I think this half-assed sort of thing actually offends the LGBT lobby even more. Why doesn't he just send some of those Whitehouse M&M's to us. After all, we can be bought off with such a crappy trinket. Sometimes the thought doesn't count.

Posted by stevema14420

on June 17, 2009 at 2:56 PM

Ignore the first few posters here. I've been following your blog every day since this story broke. It's really, really, horrible. I'm so disappointed in Obama, and it just gets worse every day. Fight the fight. It's worth it.

Posted by MichelleZB on June 17, 2009 at 3:05 PM

If you don't like reading posts with additional details on stuff you don't care about...don't read those posts. And don't clutter the comments attached to them. Find something else to do.

Leave it alone for those of us who find this interesting. Thanks so much.

That aside... hell yeah, this is weak stuff. And I like the "President Fierce" thing very much.

Posted by gloomy gus on June 17, 2009 at 3:05 PM

Well, when you're promised change and you give everything you've got to getting him elected, you don't expect to be slandered in court and put on the back burner while people who want to serve their country are still being thrown out of the services. It tends to make you goddam irritable.

Posted by Vince on June 17, 2009 at 3:06 PM

If you don't pay close attention to this kind of bullshit, who will?

Will in Seattle? Yes, he and his band of appeasers will lay prone on the railroad tracks with a smile on their face..."we voted for the democrats and they are going to kill us with kindness"

Thank god you have awoken at last, Savage.

Stay that way.

light my torch....i'm dying to use it.

Posted by patrick66 on June 17, 2009 at 3:09 PM

On one hand I feel terrible about this, on the other hand there are other things that need to be dealt with right now. Who wants to get married if they have no job?

Please tear me a new one for my insensitivity to teh gayz.

Posted by Sir Learnsalot

on June 17, 2009 at 3:09 PM

Thanks Dan keep the pressure up. The way the admin has handled this is horrible.

Posted by CodyBolt on June 17, 2009 at 3:11 PM

It's all just more talk. Talk is all this president does. I'll believe him when he actually does something.

Posted by Carollani

on June 17, 2009 at 3:12 PM

Will in Seattle @ 3,

I often find your comments insightful and interesting. Thus, I've come to believe you have a good heart. Still, I'm wondering why you insist on bashing your head on this wall, if the subject matter of this post and others related to it do not interest you, why do you even bother to read them?

Best wishes,
k

Posted by kim in portland

on June 17, 2009 at 3:21 PM

kim... insightful and interesting? A bit early to be hitting the bottle on a Wednesday, don't you think? :>

That being said, Will, quit posting the same damn thing on every post about this. I'm this close to using w7ngman's electronic-thingamabob on you.

Posted by Julie in Eugene on June 17, 2009 at 3:26 PM

3 We all do. I applaud the President on his enforcement of this historic important law, we're all most definitively doing better now than before when this sort of executive order to afford benefits to gays from the President would have never taken place. No matter how much his opponents like to scream that he's not a friend of gays and lesbians, this shows that he is.

Posted by Loveschild

on June 17, 2009 at 3:27 PM

Barney Frank backtracks: “When I was called by a newspaper reporter for reaction to the administration’s brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, I made the mistake of relying on other people’s oral descriptions to me of what had been in the brief, rather than reading it first. It is a lesson to me that I should not give in to press insistence that I comment before I have had a chance fully to inform myself on the subject at hand.

Now that I have read the brief, I believe that the administration made a conscientious and largely successful effort to avoid inappropriate rhetoric. [...]But after rereading this brief, I do not think that the Obama administration should be subject to harsh criticism in this instance.”

Posted by Baconcat on June 17, 2009 at 3:29 PM

So you pressured Obama and he threw you a bone. You're pissed at the measly bone he threw you (no surprise there), so then the answer is obviously to keep pressuring him. Done.

But this constant petty whining like a little girl about every freakin' detail every other minute of the day? It makes YOU look bad (and sure as hell doesn't help with gay male stereotyping). So, Dan, how bout you stop with posting all the little rants all day and DO something? Ya know, like ACTION. Organize a march, draw up petitions, fly to DC to camp out, etc.

Stop the whining and MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN.

Posted by Confluence on June 17, 2009 at 3:29 PM

Let's see -- so that makes the score:
Pragmatic gay members of congress: 3
Dan Savage: 0

Way to go Dan -- you and your shitty little hissy fits have really made a difference.

Posted by Good Grief on June 17, 2009 at 3:33 PM

I agree that is just a token thrown together at the last minute - but what did you expect? You want carefully thought of legislation - that kind of stuff takes time.

Frank was on Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago and said that they were 'lying the groundwork' - I don't doubt that - and this is the exact reason why you don't 'rush' into something.

Face it Obama was caught unaware with that brief - he is scrambling for a token gesture to buy himself some time - I also expect him to beef up his speech on Stonewall day too.

As far as the nuts & bolts work - I really think he wanted to focus on Health Care & Energy during this particular session. However perhaps this fiasco will be enough to get him to do something more substantial in the next couple weeks - a suspension of DADT seems like the obvious choice...

Posted by DavidC

on June 17, 2009 at 3:36 PM

@15 woah barney impresses.

Posted by Kevin Erickson on June 17, 2009 at 3:37 PM

These releases should come with pacifiers...

Posted by WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA on June 17, 2009 at 3:38 PM

Julie @ 13,

I find my fellow humans utterly facinating, and trying to get a grasp on their perspectives both interesting and insightful. Have no fear, I never touch the whiskey before 6:00 pm. ;)

Posted by kim in portland

on June 17, 2009 at 3:38 PM

Julie - I highly recommend the electronic thingamabob. Makes Slog ever-so-much easier to read!

Posted by Geni on June 17, 2009 at 3:46 PM

@9 I regret to inform you that you have been fired because you are a homo.

Now you have plenty of time to do those other things that are so important to you.

Posted by blank12357 on June 17, 2009 at 3:48 PM

Dan I agree with you on a lot of stuff, but you need to be more patient. this is a step in the right direction, no doubt. if you want everything at once, you will get nothing. I am not saying that's right or an easy pill to swallow, but that's the way things like these proceed. Look how long it took for a black man to become President for christ sakes

Posted by iliad on June 17, 2009 at 4:01 PM

Video of the signing is up on cspan ... http://cspan.org/Watch/Media/2009/06/17/…

Posted by monkey on June 17, 2009 at 4:02 PM

And it had all the sincerity of a 10 year old being forced to apologize for hitting a kid he hates.

Posted by monkey on June 17, 2009 at 4:03 PM

Eight years of losing every day under the America-hating Republicant Regime and you want to go back?

Wow.

You really do have a few screws loose.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 17, 2009 at 4:15 PM

Thanks for posting it, Monkey.

It is but a small step, but still it's a step, and for that I'm grateful.

Posted by kim in portland

on June 17, 2009 at 4:16 PM

@26

Well, yeah. We all know he was cornered into it - what do you expect? But that doesn't automatically mean he's lied on all his campaign promises to gays. He clearly hadn't been planning to touch gay issues for a while, that's certainly evident.

I honestly think he'd booked all gay issues as a second term thing. Focus on economy now, let gay rights bubble up at the state level until there's more widespread support (which is happening as we speak), and *then* start with proposing serious legislation.

Seems like a pretty well-reasoned plan to me.

Posted by Confluence on June 17, 2009 at 4:25 PM

Dan Savage IS doing something by blogging about this. Loads of people read his blog, and this story isn't necessarily making it to the mainstream media--or at least the media has been several days behind.

I read it here first. Dan is doing his job--being a journalist.

Posted by MichelleZB on June 17, 2009 at 4:29 PM

@9 Life doesn't stop in a recession. Some people will wait to be married and some will wait to have kids until after a recession, but many people 1. don't want to and 2. realize that life still goes on and you can't put your hopes and dreams on hold for another [5?] [10?] years. Yes, there are issues that may affect a larger percentage of the population (7% unemployment reports = 15% of the population not working in the manner they wish to be, for instance) but to say that because it’s only let’s say ~3% of the population (those who want to marry but can’t, perhaps) are denied equal rights, we shouldn’t worry about that issue is, I think, wrong.

Equal rights is always worth more than the value of your currency. And weddings and babies still happen in the worst of circumstances (reference: Africa).

Posted by Allyn on June 17, 2009 at 4:30 PM

Yeah, not like this is the week they decide whether or not 300 million Americans get a single payer national health care plan or something more important, after all.

I'll just tell the 70 percent that support that to sit at the back of the bus, k?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 17, 2009 at 4:50 PM

To say he was cornered into this is clearly false; Obama's rep talked about it with the Advocate before the DoJ DOMA brief came out

http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ekt…

Posted by Kevin Erickson on June 17, 2009 at 5:56 PM

It's 6 pm--I'm going for the CC & soda.

And w7ngman has an electronic thingamabob?

Posted by rob!

on June 17, 2009 at 5:59 PM

@15: David Mixner studied the DOJ's DOMA brief and said on NPR: "I've had enough. I'm 62 years old, and I want to experience the same rights and priveleges as everybody else before I die."

Are he and Frank reading two different versions?

Posted by rob!

on June 17, 2009 at 6:53 PM

@35 Mixner's probably just having flashbacks to the clinton era. He worked hard for clinton only to have clinton turn around and break a bunch of promises, institute DADT, DOMA, etc. That was a REAL betrayal.

I understand why he'd come to that conclusion, based on his past experience with democratic presidents. I just don't think the evidence is there in the document itself.

Posted by Kevin Erickson on June 17, 2009 at 7:33 PM