The Foreign Service Journal, May 2013

34 MAY 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL tion. This is clearly a significant change, and much credit goes to the department and GLIFAA for finding an accommodating, creative way to assist foreign-born partners without violating DOMA prohibitions. Having our foreign partners be able to work in the U.S. is a major incentive when considering domestic assignments that otherwise may not be viable because of the severe reduction in family income or lack of career opportunities for our partners. But as excellent as this program has been, it, too, can only be considered a stopgap measure. For starters, the program is only available to employees assigned long-term (at least six months) to the United States, so it does not help those who, for example, are on temporary duty for language training at the Foreign Service Institute. Nor does it apply to those who wish to keep their partners on Separate Maintenance Allowance in the U.S. while they serve in unac- companied hardship posts, such as Iraq or Afghanistan. It also requires a minimum amount of time devoted to “approved” educational or volunteer programs at the partner’s expense and separate from their employment pursuits—which can cost thousands of dollars a year. Most importantly, the new J visa program is only available to the partners of employees who will be transferring back overseas at some point in their career. So any employee who is contemplating retirement in the United States still has no mechanism to do so with his or her foreign partner or spouse. Just pause for a moment to imagine what that must be like. Much More to Do Still, just as I expressed optimism in my 2009 Speaking Out column, I am hopeful that we will achieve real progress on these vital issues in the near future. This summer the Supreme Court may well overturn the Defense of Marriage Act—and if it does, that will open the door for partners to seek same-sex marriage benefits. If not, then only legislative action would rectify the situation, something that seems much further off on the horizon despite the rapid shifts in popular support for LGBT issues. Yet voiding or repealing DOMA isn’t the end of the chal- Despite real progress on many fronts, same-sex spouses and partners still lack access to health care coverage, pension/inheritance benefits and immigration rights. lenge. Even after its demise, LGBT employees will still face unique obstacles in overseas assignments. Although the U.S. government may soon come to provide equal treatment to its LGBT citizens, the same certainly cannot be said for the rest of the world. Accordingly, those employees will still find it difficult or impossible to obtain visas or accreditation for their families in countries with less enlightened policies, effectively bar- ring them from considering many otherwise attractive or career-enhancing posts. The State Department must therefore continue to apply diplomatic pressure to push these countries to accord our family members the recognition they are entitled to under diplomatic conventions. Many LGBT employees also still face homophobic work environments, particularly in posts where local culture stigma- tizes homosexuality. In such places, local staff are often inad- vertently (though occasionally deliberately) insensitive in their treatment of LGBT colleagues and their families. Increased and sustained sensitivity awareness campaigns by the department could effectively combat this situation. Many countries all over the world have made great strides in treating their LGBT citizens equally. Marriage equality is the law of the land in 11 countries, including Argentina, South Africa, Mexico and Portugal, and is on the way in France, Uruguay, Nepal, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. But other countries seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Russia has been toying with the idea of enacting a nation- wide ban on the “promotion of homosexuality,” whatever that means, and has already banned gay pride parades for the next 100 years (true story!). Uganda, fueled by material and spiritual support from American fundamentalists, teeters dangerously close to pass- ing a harsh anti-gay law that could conceivably invoke the death penalty for those who are caught or suspected of “aggra- vated homosexuality.” It even includes a provision for extradit- ing Ugandan nationals found to be in violation of the law while overseas. Both GLIFAA and the U.S. government thus share a com- mon mission in advocating for the dignity and human rights of