Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has
agreed to correct inequalities for gay and lesbian diplomats at the
State Department, said California Representative Howard Berman (D)
Wednesday.
Berman, who heads the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, in a hearing on funding for the Foreign Service,
said he believed Clinton would move to provide equal benefits for
partners of gay U.S. Diplomats stationed in foreign countries, the
AFP reports.
“[I]t is my expectation, based on
very recent conversations, that the Secretary of State will move
forward with implementing all of the benefits provided in that
provision in the very near future,” Berman said, referring to
legislation that would have required the State Department to offer
such benefits.
Wisconsin's openly lesbian
Representative Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, called on Clinton to make
the necessary changes. In a letter dated February 2, Baldwin was
joined by Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) and
Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lentinen, a Republican, in asking
for policy changes for gay diplomats that would not require
Congressional approval.
Baldwin said that she had made similar
requests to Clinton's predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, but little had
come of the effort.
Under current State Department rules,
gay spouses are classified as “members of household,” a
designation with few benefits. Under federal DOMA, the department is
barred from recognizing legal gay marriages.