Gay, Lesbian Partners to Get Benefits
FrontLines - September 2009
By Angela Rucker
Decades of discriminatory
policies against same-sex partners of USAID employees overseas are beginning to change. Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham announced Aug. 4 that same-sex partners may now receive medical care at post, visas, jobs, and other benefits traditionally given only to spouses of employees.
USAID Foreign Service Officer in New Delhi Kendra Phillips and her partner submitted
their application for benefits immediately after they heard the news. Phillips said she hopes that her partner will be able to secure a diplomatic passport and that it will be easier to get a visa.
When Phillips’ partner fell ill with dengue fever last year, she was not eligible for medical evacuation from post. She was also denied basic medical services and vaccinations at the mission’s medical unit and was not considered
for employment at the post.
“The announcement will radically
improve the quality of life of me and my family because we will no longer be discriminated against,” Phillips said. “There were several times over the last six years abroad when the stress and challenges caused by the inequities, discrimination, and stigma became so difficult that we seriously considered leaving the Foreign Service.”
Same-sex partners of USAID Foreign Service Officers and personal service contractors will now receive: diplomatic passports; inclusion in employee travel orders; inclusion in family-size calculations for housing arrangements; preferences
for overseas employment; use of medical facilities; medical
and emergency evacuation from posts; emergency visitation travel when immediate family members in the United States are ill; overseas allowances; and training at the Foreign Service Institute.
To receive these benefits, partners must sign an affidavit verifying that their relationship is committed indefinitely, they are not married or partnered with anyone else, and that they share responsibility for each other’s welfare and finances.
GLIFAA, the Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies organization, was instrumental in advocating for the policy change, said USAID’s Ajit Joshi, GLIFAA’s policy director. The American Foreign Service Association estimates that close to 6 percent of the State and USAID Foreign Service is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT).
“We are pleased with these changes in policy,” said Joshi, who works in the Agency’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. “However, more challenges remain for the Civil Service, non-direct hires, and local hires as well as LGBT beneficiaries overseas.”
Joshi pointed out that same-sex partners, unlike heterosexual spouses, are still not eligible for government health insurance, expedited naturalization of non-American partners, retirement in the United States with non-American partners, and many retirement benefits. Transgender employees also don’t have health insurance that covers the medical costs of transitioning from male to female or vice-versa.
To secure those additional benefits, both the House and the Senate are considering bills that extend to domestic partners of federal employees the same benefits
that heterosexual spouses enjoy, and would allow employees
to sponsor their foreign partners
for immigration. President Barack Obama announced support for some of these measures
in June, when he signed a memorandum extending benefits for same-sex partners of federal employees.
GLIFAA is also advocating to include gender identity and gender
expression in the Agency’s non-discrimination personnel policy.
“This is about equality, fairness,
and waging the war for talent to be competitive with the private sector. We must ensure that we represent all the faces of America when we are abroad,” Joshi said.
★
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