Gay US Diplomats To Receive Equal Benefits

[Kadie]

Gay US Diplomats To Receive Equal Benefits
Families Will Be Eligible For Evacuations

MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

POSTED: 4:18 pm PDT May 23, 2009
UPDATED: 6:12 pm PDT May 23, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon announce that gay American diplomats will be given benefits similar to those that their heterosexual counterparts enjoy, U.S. officials said Saturday.

In a notice to be sent soon to State Department employees, Clinton says regulations that denied same-sex couples and their families the same rights and privileges that straight diplomats enjoyed are "unfair and must end," as they harm U.S. diplomacy.

"Providing training, medical care and other benefits to domestic partners promote the cohesiveness, safety and effectiveness of our posts abroad," she says in the message, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

"It will also help the department attract and retain personnel in a competitive environment where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers," she says.

"At bottom, the department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex domestic partners because it is the right thing to do," Clinton says.

more...
http://www.kcra.com/family/19549387/detail.html

[Tim01]

1. Good.

[grantcart]

2. step by step

[BlooInBloo]

3. \o/

[ccharles000]

4. k/r

[ZombieHorde]

5. K&R&Good.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. But....but.....but.....

I thought that Obama doesn't care about gay people (or has thrown them under the bus)?
:eyes:

But seriously, K & R, great!!!!

[Toasterlad]

14. Yes, the Improvement in the Lives of the 17 Openly Gay Diplomats Proves Obama's a "Fierce Advocate"

of gay rights.

Meanwhile, where's that progress on DADT and DOMA he promised?

:eyes:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

15. Some people are acting like just because it hasn't happened 4 months in, it won't happen at all

Patience, Toasterlad, they will die. He has at least 4 years to make good on his promises and I have little doubt that he will fulfill them when he is ready (and able) to tackle them. He HAS had a rather full plate so far- I mean, trying to save the economy and all. I feel confident that he and Congress will eliminate DADT definitely and DOMA will probably end up falling under its own weight as more and more states legalize same-sex marriage and people realize that the end of the world is not nigh.

[Toasterlad]

22. I Have Been Spectacularly Patient.

I, personally, have been waiting 45 years. Gay people as a whole have been waiting since roughly the dawn of time, but, realistically, we've all been waiting since 1969. I'm tired of being a second-class citizen. And if being a second-class citizen has taught me anything, it's that you don't become a first-class citizen by being "patient". You become a first-class citizen by yelling your head off and demanding your rights.

NOT ENOUGH, CLINTON. NOT ENOUGH, OBAMA. FULL RIGHTS, NOW!

[MADem]

19. That has to start with Congress. He's President, not King.

And frankly, there are a lot of conservative Democrats in Congress who don't necessarily agree with him on these issues. You cannot get blood from a stone--it's going to take some time and some arm-twisting.

[Toasterlad]

21. I'm Not Having This Discussion With You Again. Obama Could Suspend DADT RIGHT NOW. PERIOD.

[MADem]

26. No one is "forcing" you to even respond to me. Obama won't do what YOU want. Give that idea up.

He's going to let Congress lead on the issues you care about, after the states give a great push forward. He will not issue executive orders.

Don't cry to me because you didn't hear the words coming out of the man's mouth.

You want HOPE? Look to the SECSTATE.

And take a happiness pill. Your professional misery is tiresome and unhelpful to your stated goals.

And again, you don't want to have this discussion? DON'T.

[MADem]

7. Wow! Good for HER!!!

She's is taking DOMA and shoving it, in essence.

I really think marriage is becoming very "optional" nowadays with the younger generations, so the "opposite-sex and same sex domestic partners" aspect makes sense, too.

I wonder how long before the GOP get on their high horses...

Maybe this will propitiate the repeal of DOMA. That needs to happen sooner rather than later.

[whistler162]

16. You of course mean HIM..... since this was not done

without the approval of the President!

[MADem]

17. No, I meant her. I don't think he wants to get out in front of this issue.

He means well, but he's letting HER carry the water and make the moves. She's covering for him in this regard, in that if there is any griping, she--not he--will take the heat.

If there's no blowback, maybe this will be the thing that unloads that stupid DOMA.

[ecstatic]

29. ummm link? nt

[MADem]

30. Ummmmm, link, what?

What part of "I think" is unclear in what I said? I'm not "citing a source" I am expressing a point of view.

I was expressing an opinion, and I will wager that I am correct.

[imdjh]

8. atta girl nt

[FreeState]

9. It's a good step, but why not the exact same benefits intead of "similar"? n/t

[MADem]

18. My guess? DOMA.

By not providing the "exact same" benefits, they can get around DOMA. They can say "Why, this is a different thing altogether! We're not violating DOMA!"

[dickthegrouch]

10. It's about F*ing time /nt

[Toucano]

11. You go, Hill!

What a nice response to M. Steele's claim that we can't afford to let people enjoy equality!

[Wednesdays]

12. K&R

:kick:

[Toucano]

13. We don't comment on good news, apparently. n-t

[MADem]

20. Of course not--it's so much more "cool" to constantly complain.

Despite that, I'm amazed at the lack of "Yee haw" myself. This is a big step forward.

[Toasterlad]

23. What a Pleasantly Witless Remark From Someone Who Has RIghts I Don't.

And this is NOT a "big step". This is a very SMALL step. I don't "congratulate" tiny acts of appeasement. I congratulate REAL progress...which I have yet to see.

But I can understand why you'd be nonplussed. Straight people like you have always felt that gay people should be grateful for whatever scraps you choose to drop from the table.

[MADem]

25. Look, no matter what I say or do, you're gonna come after me because you think

you know me, though you don't.

This IS a big step, and it's a big step because it puts a big crack in what has been, for way over a decade, a solid concrete wall.

The person who is witless--though not pleasantly--is you. You're pissed, you're gonna stay pissed, you're pissed at people who support your goals, and you behave like an obtuse asshole because you're MAD, and no matter what, you're gonna STAY mad (calling people "pleasantly witless" is an example of that).

You have a nice, miserable, stew-in-your-own-juices day, Toasterlad. And keep working your ass off being a mean, nasty, whining, complaining, negative, unhappy, miserable, nothing-is-ever-right, everything-sucks, scold, because apparently, that's just how you roll. There IS no good news. Life SUCKS. Oh, and some day, Toasterlad--you are gonna die. We all are--so why even bother getting up in the morning and trying? What's the point? Fuck it all, eh?

I will celebrate with people who realize that it's a long road and not an easy one--but it's a "concrete" step in the right direction. A MAJOR one, even if you don't want to believe that.

You sit in the ditch in your own little pile of unhappiness and spin for all I care--the rest of us who are positive, pragmatic and forward looking will ease on down the road. And we'll not mind leaving your unhappy ass behind.

[Toasterlad]

27. Sorry....I Forgot to Defer to Straighty.

Straighty knows what's best for gay people better than they do. Straighty tells me I should be patient and wait til he feels like making me equal, and I'm a whining complainer if I refuse. Forgot to be grateful to my benevolent master, Straighty, who knows fuck-all about being a second-class citizen and gets off handing down judgements from his ivory tower. All hail Straighty.

Please DO let me know when it's time to start the celebration. I'll be so busy filling out reams of expensive legal paperwork just to ensure I get something close to the same legal status you get for free, I could easily miss it.

[MADem]

28. No one's asking you to "defer." But don't whine about discussing a topic when you're the one doing

the engaging. I "get it" that you're going to gripe at me any time I voice an opinion. I really don't care. Do what you will. Your opinion doesn't matter to me anymore, capisce? You can only throw so many insults before people start thinking that your behavior is pretty damn childish. And that's where I'm at after all these back-n-forths with you.

If you can't stand me, ignore me. You won't hurt my feelings. I sure as hell don't give you advice or take any of the attitudes you ascribe to me. Your "glass half empty" negativity causes you to view me through a pair of "All is Shit" glasses.

You've got issues that have nothing to do with orientation. You're a negative, complaining scold who, for some curious reason, has decided to pick on me because I don't agree with you that life just SUCKS, will NEVER get better, and EVERYONE should abandon hope this very second because YOU said so (like life was so fucking great these last eight years, and only NOW stinks!)--and I really do feel sorry for you and those who have to put up with your "Debbie Downer" commentary. I sure hope you don't take that shitty attitude with you when you talk to legislators. IF you even do that.

I won't tell you when it's time to start any celebration. You're plainly "celebrating" in your own way already--being miserable and martyr-like obviously fires off your synapses (otherwise, why would you perpetually do it?), and telling me and everyone else precisely how miserable you are, and how unfair life is because you assume that others have it better than you, is another way that you apparently buy a thrill--because you do it often enough, even after you say you won't.

Whatever. Like I said, stew in your own juices. I really don't care anymore about how you feel, Toasterlad. You aren't making me care about YOU, personally with your dramatic statements. You come at me over and over again with obnoxious, rude and insulting comments, you're not going to get a little pity party from me.

I'll save my empathy for those who know how to discuss a subject without calling people names and ascribing motives or attitudes to them that they don't possess.

You go have one of those nice days, if it doesn't ruin your carefully crafted, Great Big Sigh, Life Sucks, Poor Pitiful Me, "EMO" attitude too much.

[Toasterlad]

31. I Don't Expect You to Understand. You're Not a Repressed Minority.

You're just an asshole.

[MADem]

32. Ah, childish namecalling! You don't know if I'm a "repressed minority" or not.

You don't know a thing about me, my ethnicity, my background, any of that. You don't know what discrimination I've endured in my lifetime--all without my calling strangers "asshole" either.

Yet you call me an "asshole" and assume facts not in evidence, because you're angry and you actually think picking on others will make you feel better--it won't. It just makes you look like an immature, foolish person with poor emotional control and an inability to discuss any topic in civil fashion.

I'd say you need to do some growing up, Toasterlad. You fling names at people that describe you, yourself. That's an unfortunate trait to possess, and it reflects entirely on you, not the people at whom you misdirect your scorn.

[EFerrari]

24. Too late to rec but, kick.

Go, Hillary.