Obama Wants to Extend Family Leave to Same-Sex Couples

President Obama wants to extend the Family and Medical Leave Act to same-sex couples. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez was tasked with proposing rules to accommodate this change in law. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is being executively amended after the Supreme Court ruled last year that same-sex couples are entitled to the same federal benefits as heterosexuals.

The FMLA was signed by President Clinton in 1993 so that employees wouldn’t have to choose between their families and their jobs. The FMLA allows employees to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave to care for young children and/or spouses. President Obama wants to extend the law to same-sex couples–even if the state the couple lives in doesn’t recognize their union.

This change encourages same-sex couples to get married. The FMLA only applies to spouses, so only couples who are married will receive FMLA protection. Domestic partners and civil unions cannot receive FMLA benefits. Most federal benefits only recognize marriages. Legal unions which look like marriages but aren’t actually marriages are not recognized by most federal laws. If it wasn’t already evident that civil unions or domestic partners are second-class unions, it should be obvious now.

Is It Possible to Change FMLA to Account for Same-Sex Couples?

The major concern is that this change to the FMLA would undermine states which still oppose same-sex marriage. Imagine a state which doesn’t recognize a marriage, but the federal government gives the couple marriage benefits as though the couple were married. Has the federal government forced same-sex marriage down the unwilling throats of conservative states?

States still don’t have to accept same-sex marriage. State benefits, such as civil spousal testimonial privilege are not extended to same-sex couples. It would be more like the federal government recognizing marriages on its own without states telling Washington which marriages are legitimate and which marriages are not. In short, there could be two systems of marriages: those which the federal government recognizes and those which the state recognizes. Same-sex couples would prefer to be on both lists, but at least they are on to way to receiving federal benefits.