Gay Rights

Gay Diplomats to Get Equal Benefits

Clinton to end restrictions on benefits to partners.

Gay U.S. diplomats and their partners and families will soon be given the same benefits as their heterosexual colleagues. According to a memo leaked to the Associated Press, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will soon announce the change, saying "it is the right thing to do." She writes that the old practices are "unfair and must end" and that "domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers." The State Department withheld benefits to families of gay diplomats under the Defense of Marriage Act. A former ambassador, Michael Guest, resigned in 2007 to protest the restrictions and became a part of Obama's State Department transition team.