Asterisk

The date has been set for 1Lt. Dan Choi‘s discharge board. According to Knights Out, an LGBT West Point organization that Lt. Choi helped found, his case will be heard on June 30, 2009 to consider his discharge from active service.

Because he is openly challenging his discharge, Lt. Choi‘s discharge will likely be classified as either general under honorable conditions or dishonorable. In the 16 years history of DADT, no servicemember who has appeared before her/his discharge board has received an honorable discharge.

"Don't lie. Don't hide. Don't discriminate. Don't weaken the military."

Since President Obama and the 111th Congress took office, 264 members of the US Armed Forces, about five every three days, have been fired by the government because they are gay.

It’s tempting to get so enthralled in the battles of the day that we forget how far Americans have come in our understanding and acceptance of LGBT people, and how much work has been done by our elders in the community. As you can see from this article from Saturday’s Columbus Dispatch, 2nd Lt. Rupert Starr has been quietly laying the groundwork for the modern LGBT movement since he came to terms with his orientation nearly 60 years ago.

As the parade passed, he stood near some bushes — a hiding spot in case someone he knew saw him celebrating with thousands of gay people. Rupert Starr had stood up to Nazis during World War II, spending four months as a prisoner of war in Poland, but his participation in a Columbus Pride Festival in the 1990s required more confidence than he could muster.

This year, he is the center of attention: the grand marshal of the 1 p.m. parade and keynote speaker at a Sunday brunch for what’s considered the largest gay-pride celebration in the Midwest.

The 28-year-old loved his college girlfriend but couldn’t bring himself toward physical intimacy or marriage after years of dating. A psychologist helped him acknowledge the reason, persuading him to stop dismissing his feelings for men. At the time, gay life was so underground that Starr thought he needed the book to understand who he was — and that there were others like him.

He told no one of his self-discovery.

Since graduating from Ohio University in 1946, Starr had gained prominence in Columbus through a successful real-estate career. And he would later provide leadership to the Columbus Board of Realtors and Columbus Jaycees.

Meanwhile, Starr began living with interior designer Allan Wingfield, whom he met in 1954 at a bar near Ohio State University [sic]. Some of their gay friends and colleagues in denial had married women; the couple continued a relationship until Wingfield’s death in 2007.

2nd Lt. Starr talks with a reporter

Still, many considered the two “roommates,” not partners. In the early ’90s, even Starr’s two brothers were surprised to learn of their younger sibling’s sexual orientation. During the past decade, Starr has gradually opened up to others. Still, some friends who implicitly knew were never told so, said Loann Crane, a friend for more than 50 years. “I never knew whether he’d come out with it or not,” Crane, 84, said this week. “There are just some things you don’t discuss.”

Starr returned yesterday from a trip with two relatives in which he revisited the area surrounding his former prison camp. Though still disturbed by the horrors of war, he believes he gained strength by living through them.

“To be able to say, ‘I made it; I’m a man’ — that gave me courage,” he said. “That courage evolved into me living my life the way I was born and facing my sexuality. I felt if I could do it in battle, I could do it in my private life.”

So President Obama signed that memorandum yesterday, and it was pretty much what we’d all expected. No health benefits, no social security, no benefits for military personnel, and the effect of the memorandum disappears as soon as President Obama leaves office. The benefits that were offered are not new; they’ve been available for over ten years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VasC9lDsw_4

The signing itself is surprisingly clumsy. I get the impression that President Obama knew that he was doing nothing and was uncomfortable about it, at least I’m hoping that’s the case.

On December 18, 2008, President Obama proclaimed that he was a “fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans”, and then didn’t let the G-word or the L-word pass his lips for six months. It cannot be another six months before he’s prodded to publicly acknowledge us again.

More important than the signing held last night, though, is a nugget of information buried in yesterday morning’s press briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The two big topics in the briefing were the election in Iran and the forthcoming signing, and they bounced back and forth between the two. Skip ahead to 25:27 for some information that I don’t think we’ve heard before.

Q: And on — just one more time on DOMA, “don’t ask, don’t tell” timeline, does the President want to see that overturned in this Congress? I mean, is there a plan to do that in this Congress?

MR. GIBBS: I think, as Senator Reid said, it’s something we can do in this Congress and it’s something that the President is working with members of Congress, working with — on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” working with the Pentagon to ensure that that happens.

(full transcript here)

“This congress” is 2009-2010. I wouldn’t exactly call this a firm commitment, but it’s certainly more specific than the vague Sunday’s “on this administration’s watch” that we got last Sunday.

Of course, I still think it’s reasonable to suggest that President Obama stop the DADT bleeding while Congress works out the details over the next 18 months.

No sooner did I get the last post up than the White House published a “fact sheet” on today’s proclamation.

In an Oval Office event later today, President Barack Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. The Memorandum follows a review by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management ant [sic] the Secretary of State regarding what benefits may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees in the civil service and the foreign service within the confines of existing federal laws and statutes.

Over the past several months, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State have conducted internal reviews to determine whether the benefits they administer may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees within the confines of existing laws and statutes. Both identified a number of such benefits.

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.

The Presidential Memorandum to be signed today will request that the Director of OPM and the Secretary of State act to extend to same-sex partners of federal employees the benefits they have identified. The Memorandum will also request the heads of all other executive branch departments and agencies to conduct internal reviews to determine whether other benefits they administer might be similarly extended, and to report the results of those reviews to the Director of OPM.

The Memorandum will also direct OPM to issue guidance within 90 days to all executive departments and agencies regarding compliance with, and implementation of, the civil service laws, which make it unlawful to discriminate against federal employees or applicants for federal employment on the basis of factors not related to job performance.

Some worries that are now facts:

1. This is a memorandum, not an Executive Order. As soon as President Obama leaves office, the benefits evaporate.
2. Spouses of foreign-based employees are allowed to go to the base hospital.
3. Gay employees of the government may take off time to care for their partners, but they’d better hope their partner has their own health insurance.
4. Health insurance is not covered. For the uninitiated, “long-term care (LTC) insurance” is NOT health insurance per se. LTC is generally used by the elderly and is limited to nursing home and skilled home nursing care. LTC does NOT cover doctor visits, prescriptions, surgeries, and other standard health insurance expenses. The federal LTC Program DOES cover parents of employees and their spouses. From the federal Office of Personnel Management:

The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) provides long term care insurance to help pay for costs of care when enrollees need help with activities they perform every day, or you have a severe cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Most Federal and U.S. Postal Service employees and annuitants, active and retired members of the uniformed services, and their qualified relatives are eligible to apply for insurance coverage under the FLTCIP.

Most employees must be eligible for the FEHB Program in order to apply for coverage under the FLTCIP. It does not matter if they are actually enrolled in FEHB – eligibility is the key. Annuitants do not have to be eligible or enrolled in the FEHB Program. Certain medical conditions, or combinations of conditions, will prevent some people from being approved for coverage. You must apply to find out if you are eligible to enroll.

It’s important to note that spouses of active military personnel are theoretically covered by federal LTC insurance. Of course, if an active servicemember’s partner were to apply, the servicemember would be drummed out of the military,making gay servicemembers and their partners effectively ineligible for LTC insurance. Hey look, they just added a new effect of DADT!

So as I said in the last post, this is a nice gesture. LTC insurance is a much bigger deal than many people think, but it ain’t health insurance, and that’s what people need first and foremost.

Frankly, we’re not interested in nice gestures, especially ones with a lot of footnotes and exclusions. It’s time for real action and real leadership. Is President Obama up for the task? So far, the answer is no.

News broke last night that President Obama plans to sign a memorandum this afternoon granting benefits to unmarried domestic partners of federal employees, including same-sex partners.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, a White House official said.

Obama planned to announce his decision Wednesday in the Oval Office, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Obama had not signed a presidential memorandum putting his plan into place.

Of course, this is a hurried reaction to the furor caused by President Obama’s inaction on DADT and offensive District Court brief defending DOMA.

Taken at face value, it’s…nice. It’s a good idea and something that the administration should be applauded for. In fact, I do applaud President Obama for this. But there are several reasons The Homosexuals are skeptical.

1. It’s reportedly a memorandum, not an Executive Order. There is some confusion about this, with the Washington Post reporting it as an Executive Order but just about every other source I’ve seen, including the New York Times, reports it as a memorandum.
   
   The difference is important. If this is an Executive Order, it would take another Executive Order to cancel the benefits. If it’s a memorandum, the benefits evaporate the second President Obama leaves office. In the language of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, that would not be a lasting and durable solution.
2. It may not include health care or retirement benefits. There’s confusion about that one as well. Some say that DOMA, which the Obama administration now defends, effectively prohibits health care and retirement support for same-sex partners. Others say that these are covered under the memorandum if it references not spouses, but rather broadens the group of people covered by the federal government.
3. This whole event seems like a bandage to most commentators I’ve read. The gay community has gotten louder and rowdier since the Obama administration made clear its true thoughts on DOMA. As the AP story notes, Vice President Biden is scheduled to attend a Democratic party fund raiser with a special emphasis on LGBT rights next week.
   
   Several big donors have publicly expressed their anger and have told organizers that they will not be attending or donating any more money to the Democratic party. Two of the three out gay members of Congress, who are jointly leading the fund raiser, have expressed their outrage over the apparent change in support from President Obama. The fund raiser is turning into a PR disaster, and that’s what the Obama administration is responding to.

Politically speaking, the timing of this memorandum is the biggest problem. It’s as if they sat down in the Oval Office and said “Uh oh, we’ve gone too far. What’s the least possible action President Obama could take to get The Homosexuals to shut up and patiently wait while we ignore them for another five months?” The fact that the signing will happen at 5:45 in the evening, making it nearly impossible to be substantially reported on tonight’s evening news and improbable to be mentioned at all on tomorrow’s evening news, only makes me more suspicious.

And other than announcing that the White House dog is gay, I can’t think of something less that President Obama could do.