Obama's effort to help gay couples falls flat

WASHINGTON — The package of domestic-partnership benefits that President Obama established for federal workers Wednesday drew the loudest protests from some of those it was intended to help, gay men and lesbians who criticized the move as too timid.

The administrative memorandum extending some partnership rights to federal workers in same-sex relationships, which Obama signed late in the day, allows administration personnel to take leave to care for sick partners and requires the government to count their partners as household members when determining overseas housing allocations for State Department employees, among other things.

But several of the nation's most prominent gay and lesbian political leaders attacked the president for failing to extend full health-care benefits to the same-sex partners of federal workers, questioning the administration's explanation that it is precluded from doing so by the Defense of Marriage Act, which Obama had vowed to repeal during his campaign.

Their outcry put the administration on the defensive for an action it had hoped would help address increasing complaints from gay activists who supported Obama's election but say he is ignoring issues he promised to address, such as a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military.

Adding to the intensity of the protest, the president's move came just days after the administration's filing of a legal brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman — in a case challenging the law that is pending in California. The act allows states to reject another state's legalized gay marriages and blocks the federal government from recognizing those state-based unions. Overturning the act is a top legislative target for gay activists. But Justice Department lawyers used incest as a reason to support the law.

"When a president tells you he's going to be different, you believe him," said John Aravosis, a gay activist. "It's not that he didn't follow through on his promises; he stabbed us in the back."

David Mixner, a gay-rights activist, said of the new benefits plan: "I think it's insulting. Without minimizing how it will improve lives to some extent, what they said to us today is we will give you family leave, some things like that, but the most important thing, health care, we're not giving you."

Mixner said he would boycott a Democratic National Committee fundraiser featuring Vice President Joseph Biden this month because of what Mixner considers the administration's inaction on gay issues.

Obama said Wednesday that the memorandum — which represents Obama's interpretation of existing nondiscrimination statutes — represented only a first step, and he promised he would follow up by pushing for legislation to provide health-care benefits to same-sex couples: "Unfortunately, my administration is not authorized by existing federal law to provide same-sex couples with the full range of benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples."

Obama said he would work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, calling it "discriminatory." He also announced his support for legislation that would extend full health-care benefits to federal workers.

Earlier, John Berry, the administration's director of personnel management, noted that the memorandum would extend some health-related benefits to same-sex couples. For instance, he said, U.S. medical facilities overseas would be open to the partners of State Department employees.

But during a contentious conference call, Berry acknowledged that some federal supervisors already were conferring some of the benefits the administration was presenting as new.

He did not address accusations that the Defense of Marriage Act, which does not directly address domestic-partnership rights, did not preclude the administration from extending full health benefits to the same-sex partners of its employees.

Elaine Kaplan, the general counsel for the office of personnel management, said late Wednesday that federal statutes dictate that many vital health-care benefits be conferred only to "spouses" and children of federal employees, effectively making it a benefit of marriage as defined by the Defense of Marriage Act. She said the new legislation the president is supporting would remedy that prohibition.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.