For far too long, many of our Government's hard-working, dedicated LGBT employees have been denied equal access to the basic rights and benefits their colleagues enjoy. This kind of systemic inequality undermines the health, well-being, and security not just of our Federal workforce, but also of their families and communities.

The new benefits build upon those extended in June 2009 when Obama signed [JURIST report] a memorandum [text] allowing domestic partners to be added to insurance programs, to use medical facilities, and to be included in family size and house allocation considerations. In February, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley [official profile] moved for summary judgment [text, PDF; JURIST report] in a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] challenging the constitutionality of DOMA. Coakley has argued that the federal law interferes with the state's right to define and regulate marriage and alleges that DOMA excludes more than 16,000 married same-sex couples and their families in Massachusetts from rights and protections afforded to other married couples. The state alleges that it creates separate and unequal categories of married individuals, prohibiting same-sex spouses from filing joint federal tax returns, receiving Social Security survivor benefits, guaranteed leave from work for spousal illness and other rights given to married couples of the opposite sex. The Obama administration has said DOMA is discriminatory but has maintained that it is nonetheless constitutional. In March, the District of Columbia joined Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts [JURIST reports], and the Coquille Indian Tribe [OregonLive report] in legalizing same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive], extending the full benefits available at the state level to same-sex spouses.