Bush/ Powell left in place a directive for government workers to have their gay partners receive benefits, that we all paid for. Why is it surprising when Obama just goes one step further.
[snip] “It appears as if the Clinton State Department changed the words to circumvent DOMA,” Schwartz said. “They’ve done an end-run around the law, and it’s surprising to see the new administration going along.” .....The Blade reports that the Clinton/Albright - and now Bush/Powell - policy directly benefits, among others, Michael Guest, the openly homosexual career Foreign Service officer who Bush appointed last year as Ambassador to Romania. Guest’s homosexual lover lives with him in the U.S. Embassy compound in Bucharest and has accompanied him, like a spouse, to “official embassy functions, including a U.S. Marine Corps ball,” according to the newspaper.
http://www.crrange.com/wall107.html
Not terribly surprising. Given the ideological composition of the Department of State, it should not astonish us to see that agency leaning “forward” on such matters.