Obama to extend some benefits to gay partners of federal employees
John Berry, director of the White House Office of Personnel Management and the highest-ranking gay member of the administration, called the move “long overdue progress in our nation’s journey to equality.”
The setting will cast an especially bright light on the president’s action, but many expressed disappointment that the president was not taking bolder steps, particularly in the area of healthcare benefits.
“This is not enough. I want to be able to add my wife to my policy in the same way that every other federal employee can add their spouse to their policy,” said Kate Kuykendall , a federal worker Los Angeles. She noted that the federal government is the only employer exempt from a California law that requires companies to extend benefits to same-sex partners.
Berry said Obama’s move would allow employees’ domestic partners to be added to the government’s long-term insurance program, which covers such illnesses as Alzheimer’s disease. The memorandum also would allow employees to use sick leave to take care of domestic partners and children, and would let the same-sex partners of diplomats use medical facilities at foreign posts.
See
Obama to extend some benefits to gay partners of federal employees
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/obama-to-exte…
British ambassador to Poland criticised for ‘pushing’ gay rights
The British ambassador to Poland has been told by the country’s civil rights ombudsman he is “exceeding his authority” by promoting a gay Pride march due to take place in Warsaw this weekend.
Ric Todd has also been accused by Catholic groups of “representing the ‘homosexual lobby”.
Earlier this week, he gave Polish gay rights leaders a UK Guide To Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender People And Their Rights, translated into Polish.
Janusz Kochanowski, the Polish civil rights ombudsman, told the Daily Mail: “Ambassador Todd has exceeded his authority. He is being improper and doesn’t understand the role of a diplomat. He represents the UK, he is not meant to intervene here in the way that he chooses.”
He added that Polish gays do not live in fear of persecution.
Slawomir Skiba, the editor of Catholic newspaper Christian Polonia, also attacked Todd’s actions.
“The ambassador has demonstrated an extreme lack of diplomacy and absolute ignorance of the values by which the vast majority of our society lives,” he said, adding that Todd should ensure he represents Britain, rather than the “homosexual lobby”. See British ambassador to Poland criticised for ‘pushing’ gay rights
PinkNews.co.uk
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/british-ambas…
Gay US diplomats to get benefits for partners
In a policy shift, the US State Department will offer equal benefits and protections to same-sex partners of American diplomats, The New York Times reported.
The newspaper said the shift was spelled out in an internal memorandum Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent last week to an association of gay and lesbian foreign service officers.
Clinton said the policy change addressed an inequity in the treatment of domestic partners and would help the State Department recruit diplomats, since many international employers already offered such benefits, the report said.
“Like all families, our foreign service families come in different configurations; all are part of the common fabric of our post communities abroad,” Clinton said in the memorandum, a copy of which was provided to The Times by a member of the gay and lesbian association.
“At bottom,” the paper quotes Clinton as saying, “the department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex partners because it is the right thing to do.”
A senior State Department official confirmed the new policy, but did not say when it would take effect, the paper said.
Gay US diplomats to get benefits for partners: report
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/gay-us-diplom…
House adds same-sex benefits provision for U.S. diplomats to budget proposal
Congress has inserted a provision into the State Department authorization budget that would require the State Department to confer the same benefits to same-sex partners as it does to married couples.
Congressman Howard Berman, Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, included the provision in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410) to “end the long-standing practice of excluding the committed partners of Foreign Service officers from the benefits routinely provided to the spouses and children of officers serving abroad.” The provision now must make its way through the budget process, including the conference committee where many-a-well intentioned proposal hits the chopping block. But in this case, it would be hard to imagine that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is lead by Chairman John Kerry and the moderate republic ranking member Richard Lugar, would do anything to strip out this provision.
This would be progress. For too long, gay and lesbian diplomats have had to chose between their families and their service. “I’m happy that efforts to redress these discriminatory policies are being undertaken,” emails Michael Guest a former Foreign Service officer currently affiliated with the Center for Global Equality. “This is all about ensuring the safety, effectiveness and equal workplace conditions for those who serve our country abroad, and for the families who accompany them on those assignments.” Amen!
House adds same-sex benefits provision for U.S. diplomats to budget proposal
UN Dispatch (5/15) * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/house-adds-sa…
Gay US Ambassador to India
Peter Burleigh, an out gay foreign affairs officer, has been named to the top diplomatic post in India until a permanent ambassador is selected. According to GayPolitics.com, he has a “deep expertise in South Asian affairs” and came out within the State Department once they stopped treating gay people as security risks in 1990. See Gay US Ambassador to India
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/gay-us-ambass…
Gay US Ambassador to India
Peter Burleigh, an out gay foreign affairs officer, has been named to the top diplomatic post in India until a permanent ambassador is selected. According to GayPolitics.com, he has a “deep expertise in South Asian affairs” and came out within the State Department once they stopped treating gay people as security risks in 1990. See Gay US Ambassador to India
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/gay-us-ambass…
Clinton gives hope to gay diplomats
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised gay diplomats Wednesday to work toward securing better rights and benefits for them and their partners, whose treatment is now much worse than that of married straight couples.
During her first town hall meeting with State Department employees since taking office two weeks ago, Mrs. Clinton pledged to look for ways to provide “training, benefits and protections” to same-sex partners who accompany Foreign Service officers to overseas posts.
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Washington Times, DC -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/clinton-gives…
New Orthodox leader unlikely to stray from anti-gay path
(Moscow) A new patriarch took charge of the Russian Orthodox Church on Sunday to become the first leader of the world’s largest Orthodox church to be installed after the Soviet Union’s fall.
Kirill, a veteran church diplomat and cautious advocate of change, became the 16th …
Tags: Anti Gay, Cautious Advocate, Diplomat, Moscow, Path, Patriarch, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet UnionQuinn’s US Senate Diplomacy
Unlike Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn didn’t jump to Caroline Kennedy’s defense today when asked if Kennedy had gotten a “raw deal” from Gov. David Paterson during the much-maligned US Senate selection process.
Quinn chose to diplomatically skirt the question, the DN’s Frank Lombardi reports, saying:
“Caroline decided to drop out for personal reasons. I obviously, you know, wish her and her family well as regard to whatever this personal situation is.
“And I think what we all need to do now is get back to work, focus on the large agenda in Washington right now. We’re lucky that we have two senators right now fighting for us in Washington, not one. And we all need to work together and try to make sure that New York gets its appropriate share of the federal stimulus package.
“…So I think the focus now shouldn’t be on the past and what happened; the focus should be on moving forward for the city and state of New York and working with our senators to do that.”
Quinn also confirmed she chatted on the phone with Congresswoman-turned-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand See Quinn’s US Senate Diplomacy
New York Daily News - New York,NY,USA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/quinns-us-sen…
Nobel Prize ceremony honors AIDS discovery
(Stockholm) Scientists who discovered the AIDS virus, an outspoken U.S. economist and a Finnish diplomat who helped solve some of the world’s thorniest conflicts were honored Wednesday with the 2008 Nobel Prizes.
Marrti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, received the coveted Nobel Peace Prize for decades of peace work, including …
Tags: aids, Aids Virus, Ceremony Honors, Conflicts, Decades, Diplomat, Discovery, Economist, Former President, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Prize Ceremony, Nobel Prizes, Peace Work, President Of Finland, Scientists, Stockholm
