Swing High, Swing Low

What a day. My son is out of school for the summer, so I spent most of my time at the playground with him and a friend, watching them go up and down on the swings.

Recent national LGBT political news has been rather like that, too. It has gone something like this:

• President Obama is elected after promising to be a “fierce advocate” for LGBT rights. Early indications are promising, including many appointments of out LGBT individuals and the deliberate invitation of LGBT families to the White House Easter Egg Roll. Up.
• Last week, the administration chose to defend a Department of Justice filing that supports the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA.) Down.
• Yesterday, news broke that President Obama would be extending employee benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Up.
• The State Department will consider same-sex couples’ marriage licenses, if valid in their state of origin, as sufficient evidence for a name change on a passport. Up.
• The benefits for same-sex partners of federal workers will not include health or retirement benefits. (Earlier reports said the benefits would also expire when Obama leaves office, but that appears to be incorrect.) What does that leave? Here’s what:
  

  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.

  Good as far as they go, but without health and insurance, the two biggest benefits for most people, this is: Down. Way down. You should also go read my spouse Helen’s post, If Barack Obama Was Gay, where she speculates on what today’s new benefits would mean for Barack and “Michael.”

• John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, clarified to Alex Blaze of Bilerico that the new regulations say only job-related factors will be considered in federal employment, which means both sexual orientation and gender identity will be non-work related factors. Up. Nice to see trans issues included.

What to make of all this? While the administration’s moves have been disheartening, if not infuriating, Obama did say:

But this Presidential Memorandum is just a start. 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. That’s why I stand by my long-standing commitment to work with Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. It’s discriminatory, it interferes with States’ rights, and it’s time we overturned it.

This is the first time Obama as president has said he wants to repeal DOMA. He signed the bill in a televised ceremony. Those are good things. As to his legal argument, I am not a lawyer and cannot venture an opinion. Anyone? Is it true that he is not empowered to authorize certain benefits, and why are health and retirement benefits among them?

Also, the ultra-right is already at work condemning Obama’s actions today. The Family Research Council sent out an e-mail to its mailing list with the subject line, “Sexualizing the Federal Workplace.” Let’s remember who the real opponent is here.

Yes, Obama needs to see that we are angry at his cautious and sometimes contradictory steps and want more. We need to keep the pressure on. Still, we wouldn’t have gotten even this far with a McCain administration. Our criticism needs to be constructive, and imbued with an understanding of the political process even as we attempt to push its boundaries. We must not treat him as an enemy, but rather as a misguided friend. If we can communicate our disappointment but also extend an offer to move forward together, I believe we can make significant progress on LGBT rights during his term in office. Even if the first steps are slow and hesitant.