New York Times Editorial: Benefits for Same-Sex Partners

New York Times Editorial: Benefits for Same-Sex Partners
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: June 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/opinion/18thu3.html?th&emc=th


President Obama’s decision to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees is a victory for fairness in the workplace. It is a serious omission, however, that his new policy does not include health and retirement benefits, which heterosexual married employees receive. The administration has more work to do, on employee benefits and other issues, to keep its promise to work for equal rights for gay Americans.

It is deeply unfair that gay federal employees have not been able to give their partners the same benefits coverage as heterosexual employees. Since benefits are an important part of employment compensation, gay people are effectively being paid less than their heterosexual peers for doing the same work.

Mr. Obama’s order will extend some benefits to partners of gay employees, including long-term-care insurance and, for foreign service employees, the ability to use medical facilities at posts abroad. It also directs the heads of executive-branch departments to determine what other benefits can legally be extended.

The new policy will not, however, include some of the most important, and costliest, benefits. The administration says that Congress would have to pass a law for it to provide health and retirement coverage. It was encouraging to hear President Obama say on Wednesday that he supported a bill that would do just that.

The strong symbolism of the president’s move cannot be denied. The federal government is, for the first time, acknowledging that its employees’ same-sex partners are worthy of respect. When President Bill Clinton prohibited discrimination against gay people in federal employment — an order that Mr. Obama’s memo reinforces — it helped prod private employers to do so, too.

Still, it is impossible to ignore how much of the glass is not full. The Defense of Marriage Act — which prohibits the federal government from treating same-sex relationships as marriages, and allows states not to recognize same-sex marriages from other states — needs to be repealed. President Obama should also work to allow gay people to serve openly in the military and to persuade Congress to bar discrimination against gay people in employment.