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national
Same-sex couples can use married names on passports
Revision can take place as state recognizes marriage or civil unions
Published Thursday, 25-Jun-2009 in issue 1122
BOSTON (AP) – Same-sex couples can now put their married names on U.S. passports if their state recognizes their marriage or civil union.
This is due to a little-noticed revision to State Department regulations that critics had feared would undermine the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of any same-sex partnerships.
The notice of the change says that it does not mean the State Department is recognizing the validity of same-sex marriages and civil unions, but that it was to comply with an amendment to the Code of Federal Regulations that took effect in February 2008.
The name-change revision took effect May 27 in an addition to the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual.
Keith and Al Toney learned of the change this week and expressed relief at the end of an effort that began in 2007, when Keith applied for a passport under his married name but was denied. They live in Massachusetts, which was the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
“We’ll probably be going back to Costa Rica in August, and just knowing that I don’t have to hand over a passport that I considered fraudulent ... just knowing that I have an accurate passport, I feel like I can hold my head up high,’’ Keith Toney said.
The move is separate from steps Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton took this week to grant some of the same benefits to the partners of gay diplomats as those available to spouses in heterosexual marriages.
Still, groups opposed to same-sex marriage criticized the name-change provision, saying it erodes the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
“It’s an exercise that the current administration is using to try to nibble away at the Defense of Marriage Act,’’ said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
“There’s no doubt that President Obama has made a strong commitment to repeal the DOMA ... and it will take an act of Congress to do so,’’ Mineau said. “He cannot circumvent the law, but he attempts to do so not head-on, but in an oblique approach.’’
Obama said he wants to see the Defense of Marriage Act repealed. But he’s been heavily criticized by gay rights groups for not moving quickly enough on his campaign promises to expand gay rights.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a New York-based group that campaigns nationally for same-sex marriage rights, said the change in passport regulations is a “very small step in the right direction,’’ but falls “far short of the work that needs to happen to keep the federal government from discriminating against same-sex couples across the country.’’
The separate changes instituted this week by the State Department include the right of domestic partners to hold diplomatic passports, government-paid travel to and from foreign posts, the use of U.S. medical facilities abroad, eligibility for U.S. government emergency evacuations, and training at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute.
Clinton announced the measures after Obama’s decision on Wednesday to grant some benefits to the same-sex partners of gay federal employees.
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