When the news hit that President Barack Obama was going to grant same-sex domestic partner benefits to federal employees, there was hope that he was about to help advance the rights of all LGBT people--that he was going to keep his campaign promises.
But Obama signed a presidential memorandum, not an executive order, so the rights granted will only be in effect for as long as Obama is president. What's more, although there had been thought Obama would offer full medical benefits, that was never possible. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) strictly prohibits the federal government from extending medical benefits to same-sex partners of government employees.
Several days ago, Obama's Justice Department filed a legal brief defended DOMA after a gay couple filed a lawsuit in California that challenged the Constitutionality of the controversial Proposition 8. This move outraged LGBT-rights advocates because, at one point, Obama indicated that he'd repeal DOMA, calling it "abhorrent" and "unfair."
And what about his pledge to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? The White House web site, which at one point included an outline of the administration's LGBT agenda, now only contains a proclamation marking June as Pride Month.
The result: Several gay activists announced that they'd boycott a Democratic National Committee fundraiser scheduled for next week featuring Vice President Joe Biden and LGBT Congressional members. "How will they ever take us seriously if we keep forking out money while they harm us?" LGBT-rights activist David Mixner said. "From now on, my money is going to battles within the community such as the fight in Maine or the March on Washington!"
As pressure mounts on Obama to make good on his promises, here's what LGBT-rights proponents are saying.
"The brief in defense of DOMA filed by President Obama's Department of Justice could have been written by the Rev. Pat Robertson. Using the worst of stereotypes, it intimates that we don't have constitutional guarantees, invokes scenarios of incest of children and advocates that we don't have the same rights as others who have struggled for civil rights. Anyway you cut it, it is a sickening document, one that this administration should be ashamed of and should disgust any friend of this community. What in the hell were they thinking? Or is that their thinking?"
--Mixner
"Same-sex couples and their families are not seeking subsidies. We pay taxes equally, contribute to our communities equally, support each other equally, pay equally into Social Security and participate equally in our democracy. Equal protection is not a handout. It is our right as citizens."
-- Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign
"Obama is quite literally destroying our civil-rights gains with this brief. He's taking us down for his own benefit."
-- John Aravosis, AmericaBlog
"This is not enough. I want to be able to add my wife to my policy in the same way that every other federal employee can add their spouse to their policy."
-- Kate Kuykendall, federal employee in Los Angeles
