The federal Family and Medical Leave Act will soon give some gay workers the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for the sick or newborn children of their same-sex partners, according to sources who spoke to the New York Times:

The policy will be set forth in a ruling to be issued Wednesday by the Labor Department’s wage and hour division, the officials said.

Under a 1993 law, people who work for a company with 50 or more employees are generally entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or for a spouse, son or daughter with “a serious health condition.”

The new ruling indicates that an employee in a same-sex relationship can qualify for leave to care for the child of his or her partner, even if the worker has not legally adopted the child.

The ruling, in a formal opinion letter, tackles a question not explicitly addressed in the 1993 law. It is one of many actions taken by the Obama administration to respond to the concerns of gay men and lesbians within the constraints of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman as husband and wife.

In April, Mr. Obama announced plans to grant hospital visiting rights to same-sex partners, and the Justice Department concluded that the Violence Against Women Act protects same-sex partners.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama plans to welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocates to a White House reception celebrating June as “LGBT Pride Month.”

Photo: Zizzybaloobah

In a 31-20 vote, the Hawaii state house passed a civil unions bill last night, just hours before the legislative session ended for the year.  The bill would provide unmarried same-sex and straight couples with the same rights and benefits as married couples.

Since the bill was already approved by the state senate in January, the decision to approve or veto the bill now lies in the hands of Gov. Linda Lingle.

The Honolulu Advertiser reports:

Gov. Linda Lingle had urged lawmakers against taking up civil unions this session and to instead focus on the state’s budget deficit. She has not said whether she would sign or veto the bill.

Lingle has 45 days to decide. If she vetoes the bill, the House and Senate can come back in a one-day override session in July.

The vote in the Senate was enough to override a veto, but the vote in the House was not. The House would need 34 votes to override.

The bill’s passage was considered a major leap toward expanding the rights of gay couples in Hawai’i. It was here that national debate on the issue erupted in 1993 in the wake of a historic Hawai’i Supreme Court ruling.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has confirmed that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has the necessary funds to pay for her Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act.

The legislation, estimated to cost approximately $6.3 million each year, would provide same-sex partners of federal workers the same benefits available to spouses of straight workers.  These benefits would include health care and pension plans.

“We’ll be able to pay for it,” said Baldwin. “I’m confident that we will be able to offset it so that it will meet statutory pay-go requirements.”

Baldwin told reporters that she’s committed to passing the bill, but predicted ENDA would come to the House floor prior to the domestic partner bill.

DC Agenda reports:

Both the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the legislation reported out the bill late last year, but supporters have said they wouldn’t move the bill to the floor unless OPM provided information on how to pay for the legislation’s cost – an estimated $63 million each year — within the agency’s existing budget.

Baldwin said she didn’t want to offer more information publicly on how OPM found the needed funds to pay for the legislation.

“The last thing you want to do is put a pay-for out there,” she said. “Somebody else will grab it before I’m ready to take the bill to the floor because everyone wants money to pay for their bill.”

A committee of the New Mexico Senate has voted to table a bill that would have established domestic partnerships in the state.  The 7-4 vote means the bill is effectively dead for the year.  According to a report in The New Mexico Independent:

“Realistically my sense is that it’s done for this year,” said Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe. “It’s gonna happen, it’s just a matter of when.”

Wirth was the sponsor of the 800-page bill and steered it through one Senate committee before its defeat Monday night in Senate Finance.

The tabling vote strikes a blow to Gov. Bill Richardson who made extending many of the same rights enjoyed by married couples to gays and lesbians part of his legislative agenda.

But with the state confronting the worst budget picture in decades some senators felt the issue was too much to take on.

“I did not ask for this bill to be sent to Senate finance,” said Chairman Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, “But that’s the politics and that’s the way it is.”

President Obama today strongly endorsed extending domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian couples, specifically mentioning a bill introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) that would do just that for federal workers.  Responding to a questioner at a Tampa, Fla. town hall-style appearance, Obama said:

“As I said last night my belief is that a basic principal in our Constitution is that if you’re obeying the law, if you’re following the rules, that you should be treated the same regardless of who you are.

“I think that principle applies to gay and lesbian couples, so at the federal level one of the things that we’re trying to do is to make sure that partnerships are recognized for purposes of benefits, so that hospital visitation for example is something that is permitted, so that social security or pension benefits or others, that same-sex couples are recognized in all those circumstances.

“We actually have an opportunity of passing a law that’s been introduced in congress right now and my hope is that this year we can get it done just for federal employees and federal workers. A lot of companies on their own, some of the best run companies, have adopted these practices. I think it’s the right thing to do and it makes sense for us to take a leadership role in ensuring that people are treated the same.

“Regardless of your personal opinions the notion that somebody’ who’s working really hard for 30 years can’t take their death benefits and transfer them to the person that they love most in the world and who has supported them their whole lives doesn’t seem fair, doesn’t seem right and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Watch a video of the remarks at Towleroad.  Follow progress on Baldwin’s Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act here.