Obama to Extend SOME Federal Benefits to Gay Employees & Their Spouses.
Wait a minute, we hear you say - but he promised ALL of the SAME AND EQUAL RIGHTS as heterosexual couples on a Federal level!
What happened? Well, if you’ve been reading this blog, or read the news, you’d know by now that the White House webiste did some Spring Cleaning a while back and removed more than 2/3 of the campaign promises President Obama made to his GLBT supporters. The hate crimes bill, a.k.a. The Matthew Shepherd Act, which had no oposition, and was followed so vividly in the press, died on the floor with no support (in committee), much like the individual for which it was named.
Why can’t/won’t Obama do something about it? Simply put, he would have to end D.O.M.A. (The ridiculously named federal Defense of Marriage Act), which specifically proclaims marriage as between one man and one woman, thus denying key benefits like health insurance and retirement benefits. He could end it be Presidential decree and further down the road approved by legislators or The Supreme Court, but, alas, it would alienate too many straight voters, so, he isn’t going to touch it. Fucked again. And Again. And Again.
This was a presidential “memo,” NOT an Executive Order, and does NOT include health nor retirement benefits. The kind of “benefits” gay spouses can look forward to are things like “relocation assistance.” That’s great (sigh), but what about the other 1,600+ benefits that heterosexual people get? That’s what we voted for. That’s the person we believed in, you know, the one who was supposed to give us CHANGE, for the better. Instead, we keep getting pushed back and back, and the message we get is that our bloc of voters is not important to the administration. Instead, all we see is political cowardice, hedged bets, and broken promises.
That won’t get you a second term, dear Mr. President. We urge you to look back at one of your speeches from 2007, titled “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” and get someone to interpret that phrase for you in a queer context.
We realize you have a lot on your plate, but if you and your colleagues can make time for fundraisers that will pile your coffers for the next election round, you can make time for us. If you don’t make good on the promises you made, expect a backlash unlike any delivered by a group of disenfranchised people to a President, dealt with the same technological prowess by which you became the leader of our country.
A larger article with more links is available at OutGayLife.com
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