Step-By-Step Transgender, Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay People Are Achieving Some Equality

President Obama is improving the lives of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Americans step-by-step. There seem to be many who think he is not moving fast enough. The bottom line is he can only do so much. Checks and balances limit even the President’s authority. Transgender, Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay people should continue to lobby Congress for our civil rights and equality. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and has to repeal it before there can be equality. Congress has to pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) before Transgender people reach any equality. As with the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Bill, President Obama supports ENDA, SNDA and the repeal of DOMA and 'DADT' but all of these bills have to first reach his desk. What can you do? If nothing else, you can write or call your Congressional delegation. You can be vocal. You can protest. But please don't just sit there and whine. There is a lot of work to be done.  June 2, 2010, 7:32 PM New Benefits for Same-Sex Partners By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG President Obama on Wednesday extended a modest package of benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees, a move that will make them eligible for day care, travel and relocation allowances, employee assistance programs and, in some cases, enable them to inherit retirement benefits. But Mr. Obama lamented that federal law – the Defense of Marriage Act – prevents him from extending the full range of health and retirement benefits to federal employees. He called on Congress to pass legislation that would allow him to do so. The announcement, timed to coincide with Mr. Obama’s designation of June as Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual Pride Month, builds on a memorandum he issued last June, when he directed federal agencies to study ways to deliver more benefits to domestic partners of their employees. Gay rights advocates said it was a meaningful, if incremental, step. “There are big ticket items like health insurance and retirement that are outside the scope’’ of what the administration can do, said Brian Moulton, chief legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group here. “So anything they do is going to be relatively minor, but anytime you are taking action to make sure that one of these employees is treated as well as the person in the next cubicle, that’s a positive step.’’ Original Article