Among the benefits are diplomatic passports, use of medical facilities at overseas posts, medical and other emergency evacuation, transportation between posts, and training in security and languages.It's very interesting that they're the benefits to gay and straight unmarried couples. Arguably, this is one way to get around DOMA. By including unmarried straight couples, per se the benefits have nothing to do with marriage since those couples can get married under law. The benefits deal with family, and nothing in the law says that families can't get benefits.
This is a good first step by the Obama administration. We should thank them, while not letting them off the hook for their most important promises: DOMA, DADT, and ENDA.
As an aside, State's approach, letting same-sex and opposite-sex unmarried partners all get the benefits, opens up the question of whether the federal government can do this across the board, not just with their own employees, but with American citizens at large. Can the agencies off their benefits, such as Social Security benefits, tax advantages, etc. to unwed partners?
