This week’s political news makes up for in quality what it lacks in quantity—a couple of major issues in play here. (As always, I’ll tackle parenting and youth issues in a separate roundup.)
- A federal judge issued an injunction to put an “immediate” stop to all Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell discharges and investigations. The Staff Judge Advocate Generals duly sent out an e-mail to their subordinates about the ruling, noting a possible request for a stay by the government, and stating that in the meantime, the injunction is valid. Then the Department of Justice filed the expected request for a stay. Then President Obama (to whom the DOJ reports) told a youth town hall at Howard University, “This is not a question of whether the policy will end. This policy will end and it will end on my watch.” Huh? He explained, “But I do have an obligation to make sure that I am following some of the rules. I can’t simply ignore laws that are out there. I’ve got to work to make sure that they are changed.”
- It’s been a busy week for the Department of Justice, which also filed appeals in two challenges of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA): Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States of America.
- And yes, federal employees can purchase health insurance for their pets, but not their same-sex partners. Well, not exactly. The Office of Personnel Management has responded to this claim with a memo noting that the pet insurance is offered by Aetna, a participating carrier in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), but such insurance is not a federal benefit. Apparently, Aetna was unclear about this in some of its communications.
- LGBT activists in North Carolina delivered hundreds of empty Froot Loops boxes to state Rep. Larry Brown (R) to protest an e-mail he sent to Republican colleagues calling gay people “queers” and “fruitloops.”
Around the world:
- An appeals court in France has refused to recognize transgender woman Delphine Ravisé-Giard as female, even though the French Air Force was. Their reasoning? Her transition was not “irreversible” and her breasts were not large enough. That’s offensive on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin.
- The U.K.’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will undergo “significant changes,” although it escaped being cut like 192 other quangos—which I mention mostly because it lets me use the word “quango” (a non-governmental public body), a word I don’t get to write nearly often enough, even in Scrabble. The Expert Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS and the Independent Advisory Group of Sexual Health and HIV, however, will be reformed and replaced, respectively.
