Washington, D.C. - President Obama is expected to sign a memorandum in the Oval Office this afternoon, which gives some health care benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
It is unclear as to which benefits will be granted to the couples, however, it is not expected that the President will grant full health coverage.
This comes days after the Justice Department filed a brief supporting the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and appeared to equate gay-marriage with incest.
DOMA was signed into effect by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It effectively prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage.
The law defines marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband wife" and a spouse as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."
President Obama's expected memorandum signing also comes just over a week after the Supreme Court refused to hear a legal challenge to the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
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