Bucket, drop, etc.

There's still DOMA, there's still DADT, not to mention the non-federal employees, not to mention health insurance for the federal employees. Still, I'm glad the drop is there.

If I was a cynical bastard, I'd suggest that this move was calculated to force dismissal of the anti-DoMA suit being brought by Dean Hara, Gary Studds' widow. Once this goes through, the opposition will simply file a brief for dismissal for lack of standing claiming that once he receives federal benefits, he hasn't been harmed.

Oh, wait, I am a cynical bastard.

He needs to do a lot more to impress me. DoMA needs to go. DADT is far more than just a GLBT rights issue, it's a matter of national defense; we're losing highly qualified while in the middle of two wars. I don't know about the rest of you, but this gesture, while a good start, is not going to be enough to shut me up.

P.S. Thaeatetus, you are totally right; it is just designed to make the lawsuit go away.

Actually, hold up on the party -- my understanding is that the measure announced today *won't* have full health coverage for domestic partnerships. I've been reading that something called the Lieberman-Baldwin Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act (currently in committee, I believe) has to pass before partners can receive full health benefits. They mention it in passing in this article in the Advocate, but I haven't been able to find many details.

The one thing I'm concerned about is that it's unclear whether this will be an executive order or a memo-- one would have to be repealed by a future president to undo, and the other would stipulate the benefits only apply to federal employees/their partners during this administration, is the way I've understood it.

I'm not wildly impressed, anyway, but I keep trying to remind myself that it is something.

Oh no. You should not be impressed. Not even a little bit. It's a presidential memorandum, which expires at the end of Obama's term, and there's no health coverage.

People, this is a slap in the face. Don't fall for it. Obama has done nothing for the queer community. After Rick Warren, after ignoring all the gay marriage issues, and after that deeply offensive DOMA brief, he owes us big time. Don't let him get away with this stuff.

It's been clarified that it's an executive memo that will automatically expire when he leaves office and it doesn't include insurance which lets be honest is what people think of when they think of benefits. Apparently it was announced before they even figured out what was going to go into it, mainly as a reaction to donors and organizations pulling out of a big upcoming DNC fundraiser.

Propose, and work toward, Repealing DOMA, then we'll talk.

My first response was YAY! Finally something positive! Now I'm just sad.