Gay Obama Administration Official Says He Can't Give a Lesbian Wife Health Benefits
Written by Daniela Perdomo Wednesday, 09 December 2009 06:46
Is an administration that's branded itself as change really forcing a gay man to deny a lesbian couple equal benefits? Yep.
I'm certainly not one of those doe-eyed Obama voters who really thought he was going to come in and change everything, but every now and then some bit of news comes out of the U.S. government that really does leave me dumbfounded. The following is one of them.
The director of the Office of Personnel Management, John Berry, an openly gay man (Victory!) over the weekend said he cannot follow a California court order to provide health benefits to the wife of a federal employee. (Fail!)
Watch him explain -- at the Victory Fund's Gay and Lesbian Leadership gala, no less -- why his office specifically told Blue Shield/Blue Cross not to comply with the court order:
Berry's answer is pretty confounding -- it's clear he can hardly believe it himself. If you didn't watch the video, he says that the Justice Department has pretty much advised him that "Neither I nor the President have the authority to do this." Er? You don't have the right to comply with a court order?
Regardless of what the judiciary branch has told Berry, the administration has 30 days to comply with the court order -- or appeal it. Ignoring it isn't an option -- though the Bush Administration might have led some people in the Justice Department to think it is.
At the same San Francisco event where Berry spoke, openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and openly gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) told the audience that a bill on benefits for domestic partners is expected to hit the House floor by the end of the year.
If it passes, hopefully no gay person will ever have to deny another gay person same-sex benefits again.
Daniela Perdomo is a contributing writer & editor at AlterNet. You can follow her on Twitter @danielaperdomo.
Read the original article in AlterNet
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