President Obama's first official overture to the gay and lesbian community, granting a handful of benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, did little to quiet gay-rights activists who want him to push for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Obama reiterated at a White House ceremony his "long-standing commitment" to try to overturn the law, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
But the memorandum he signed Wednesday was a far cry from the frontal assault on the 1996 marriage law, which denies federal benefits to same-sex partners, or the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays in the military that candidate Obama talked about.
The memorandum aims at the fringes of anti-gay discrimination by the federal government, leaving open the question of if or when the White House will move against the underlying federal laws.
Under the new rule, domestic partners of civil servants will be eligible for long-term care insurance, and employees may use sick leave to take care of ailing partners or non-biological, non-adopted children.
Obama's action comes as the gay community is raging over a Justice Department brief last week asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a gay California couple, Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, that challenges the marriage law. They want to have their marriage -- which was upheld by the state Supreme Court because it took place before Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage took effect -- recognized by other states.
The White House argued that it is obligated to defend the marriage act, known as DOMA, until Congress repeals it.
But what has riled the gay and lesbian community is the wording of the brief. It found the statute "entirely rational," said it was a savings to taxpayers and cited as precedents states rejecting marriages from other states that involved under-age females or close relatives.
Obama's action "doesn't mollify anyone for the horrendous brief that was filed about DOMA or the failure to act on the issues the president promised to act upon when he was running," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a San Francisco group pushing for legal same-sex marriage in the state.
John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management and the administration's top-ranking openly gay official, called the memorandum on federal benefits "a first step, not a final step."
"This is an attempt to get our federal house in order," he said, so that the administration is "practicing before preaching."
Same-sex partners of Foreign Service employees will be allowed to use overseas medical facilities and be eligible for medical evacuation. The employees also will be allowed to have their families counted when their housing needs are determined.
Still, a bill to repeal the ban on gays in the military has languished in Congress, and there is no effort to repeal DOMA.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said that he is moving on hate-crimes legislation, but is waiting for guidance from the White House on a repeal of the military ban.
The administration contends it must continue to dismiss homosexual soldiers until Congress repeals the ban.
"The reality is ... there has been no public call from the president on 'don't ask, don't tell' or to repeal DOMA," Kors said, "or any of the other things he said he was committed to when he ran for office."
Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said gay groups in Washington "have asked the president to take the many steps he can take that do not require legislative action," and the memorandum is one of those.
But she also said the community should hold Congress and the administration's feet to the fire.
Asked when the White House might try to repeal the marriage act, Berry said, "Anybody who works in Washington who tells you a specific time line is kidding you. A time line is 218 votes in the House and 60 votes in the Senate."
(E-mail Carolyn Lochhead at clochhead(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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