Pentagon to Begin Issuing Same-Sex Domestic Partner Benefits on September 1

The Pentagon will begin issuing same-sex domestic partner benefits on September 1, the Washington Times reports:

The dependents’ ID cards will entitle partners to scores of benefits, as outlined by then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta in a February policy decision.

The ID card Web notice refers to same-sex domestic partners as “SSDPs.”

The benefits include education, survivor, commissary, travel, counseling and transportation, but not what some consider the armed forces’ premium perks — health care and housing allowances.

Mr. Panetta said the federal Defense of Marriage Act restricts those benefits to heterosexual couples, though the Pentagon has not ruled out offering them to homosexual couples at some point.

Still, the new benefits and special ID cards represent a victory for the gay rights movement in the wake of President Obama’s lifting the long-time ban on open homosexuals in the ranks.

An Army National Guard posting appeared to confirm the Washington Times report.

LGBT Workers Live and Work Under 'A Broken Bargain'

A landmark new report released today examines how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers might have the same job as a coworker, yet be legally fired, denied equal benefits and be required to pay thousands of dollars more in taxes simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

A Broken Bargain: Discrimination, Fewer Benefits and More Taxes for LGBT Workers illustrates how America’s basic bargain—that those who work hard can get ahead—is broken for LGBT workers. The report vividly shows how antiquated and discriminatory laws make it harder for LGBT workers to provide for themselves and their families, and offers detailed policy recommendations for addressing those inequities.

While the nation focuses on recent advances in securing marriage for same-sex couples, 40 years of advocacy have failed to secure federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBT workers. Driven by the need to respond to these public policy failures, this report brings together a coalition of leading LGBT organizations, policy experts and business advocates that includes the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), the Center for American Progress (CAP), and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in partnership with Freedom to Work, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Partnership for Women & Families, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates and SEIU—with a foreword by Small Business Majority.

LGBT Workers Are Diverse, Often Parents, and More Likely to Be Poor

A Broken Bargain paints the most complete portrait to date of the LGBT workforce in the U.S., revealing that:

• There are an estimated 5.4 million LGBT workers who live in 93% of all U.S. counties.
• LGBT workers are often parents. More than one-third (37%) of LGBT adults have had a child, making family benefits important to LGBT and non-LGBT workers alike.
• LGBT people are at higher risk of poverty than non-LGBT people. Fifteen percent of transgender people have a household income under $10,000, compared to 4% of the population as a whole. Same-sex couples raising children are more than twice as likely to have household incomes near the poverty line compared to opposite-sex parents (21% vs. 9%).
• LGBT workers are slightly more racially/ethnically diverse than the U.S. population as a whole.

Read more!