Jake Tapper is blogging that:
…[today] President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum extending benefits to the same-sex partners of gay and lesbian federal employees.
… it comes at a time that gay and lesbian supporters of the president are expressing anger and disappointment at his inaction on rescinding Don’t Ask/Dont Tell, his opposition to same-sex marriage, and his support for the anti-same-sex-marriage Defense of Marriage Act in a legal brief that compared same-sex unions to incestuous ones.
Denying benefits, that are already available to heterosexuals, to same-sex couples is wrong.
Government, like any employer, does not have the moral right to decide the sexual orientation or preferences of its employees. But, unlike any private business that can deny employment based on sexuality under certain circumstances, the Federal Government cannot do so. It cannot, likewise, discriminate employees based on their sexual preferences. If any benefits are provided to heterosexual couples, the same must be provided to homosexual couples.
Additionally, I feel that such benefits should not be restricted to sexual relationships alone. Any couple living together, whether the bond be forged by blood, friendship or any such ties, that declares itself to the government should be eligible for benefits.
Why does the government or any employer have the right to decide that a couple must be engaged in a sexual relationship before it can take advantage of benefits?
Now, even if Obama does make this decision, will it placate the gay rights lobby? Apparently not entirely:
“It seems to me at least to be a nice gesture, but a disappointment,” said Richard Kim, a senior editor at The Nation magazine.
But, of course, nothing is ever enough. Even when gay marriage is legal, we’ll have some other issue.
