Obama expands federal benefits to same-sex partners

Jun 17, 2009, 19:36 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday was to extend some benefits for government workers to same-sex and unmarried partners in a bid to give them greater equality.

Obama was to sign a presidential memorandum that would provide limited health care and financial benefits that are currently denied to gay couples and domestic partners. The State Department last month announced a similar gesture for its employees.

Obama 'believes this is a matter of fairness,' said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Obama has been at odds with the gay rights community over his opposition to same-sex marriage, a rallying cry for the movement, though he has supported civil unions that give gay couples equal benefits under the law.

Rights groups welcomed the new gesture but said it did not go far enough. They urged Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to repeal a 1996 law that bars same-sex couples from getting full benefits and prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

'Todays presidential signature is the first brick in paving what is a long path toward equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans,' said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest lobby group for gay rights.

The long-simmering issue of same-sex marriage is both politically and morally charged in the US. In last November's elections, California, Arizona and Florida passed gay marriage bans. In Arkansas, voters passed a law depriving gays of the right to adopt children.

On the opposite side, Vermont, Iowa, Massachusetts and Connecticut allow same-sex marriage.