DoD expands certain benefits to military same-sex couples
WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense will be extending certain benefits to same-sex couples in the military, a move announced in a memorandum by Secretary Leon Panetta - a final punctuation mark to the outgoing defense secretary's tenure at the Pentagon.
"Our work must now expand to changing our policies and practices to ensure fairness and equal treatment and to taking care of all of our service members and their families, to the extent allowable by law," Panetta wrote of the post-"don't ask, don't tell" military in the memo.
The Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government recognizing same-sex couples' marriages limits those benefits, but both the Pentagon and advocacy had identified several benefits that could be extended, from joint duty assignments for couples in which both partners are in the military to allowing servicemembers' same-sex partner to have a military identification card.
Although several such benefits were extended, neither on-base housing nor burial benefits were granted by today's memo. Secretary Panetta said their issuance would continue to be reviewed.
An implementation plan for the new benefits will be issued in the next 60 days, with the expansion of the benefits, per Panetta's memo, to take effect sometime between August 31 and October 1.
Activists hailed the decision "Today, the Pentagon took a historic step forward toward righting the wrong of inequality in our armed forces, but there is still more work to be done," Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin told BuzzFeed. "Gay and lesbian service members and their families make sacrifices every day, and this country owes them every measure of support we can provide. Since the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' the Obama administration has shown true leadership on this issue."
The issue of same-sex partner benefits has been one of three main issues pushed by advocacy groups since the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in September 2011. The benefits issue, along with an explicit nondiscrimination policy and an end to the ban on out transgender service, were not addressed in the legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in December 2010.
In recent months, a situation in which the same-sex wife of an Army officer was not allowed to join a spouses' group that met at the Fort Bragg installation highlighted the ongoing issues with the military's treatment of gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members.
In addition to the benefits extended today, the advocacy group OutServe-SLDN has an ongoing lawsuit against the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs challenging DOMA to the extent it limits military and veterans' spousal benefits. Although the Obama administration has not been defending that lawsuit, the House Republican leadership has taken up the defense of DOMA in the case as it has in other challenges to the 1996 law.
As recently as Friday night, the government response to inquiries over the past year had been that "the Department of Defense is conducting a deliberative and comprehensive review of the availability of benefits, when legally permissible, to same-sex domestic partners of service members."
While the Pentagon's decision was historic, activists weren't wasting any time calling for further action.
"Even today, the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act makes inequality for gay and lesbian military families a legal requirement. It's time to right this wrong. When the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of DOMA in the coming weeks … [it] should reflect on the sacrifice made by Americans like Staff Sergeant Tracy Johnson, whose wife was killed in action late last year, or the family of Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, who succumbed to cancer earlier this week," Griffin said.
Source is very happy.
"Our work must now expand to changing our policies and practices to ensure fairness and equal treatment and to taking care of all of our service members and their families, to the extent allowable by law," Panetta wrote of the post-"don't ask, don't tell" military in the memo.
The Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government recognizing same-sex couples' marriages limits those benefits, but both the Pentagon and advocacy had identified several benefits that could be extended, from joint duty assignments for couples in which both partners are in the military to allowing servicemembers' same-sex partner to have a military identification card.
Although several such benefits were extended, neither on-base housing nor burial benefits were granted by today's memo. Secretary Panetta said their issuance would continue to be reviewed.
An implementation plan for the new benefits will be issued in the next 60 days, with the expansion of the benefits, per Panetta's memo, to take effect sometime between August 31 and October 1.
Activists hailed the decision "Today, the Pentagon took a historic step forward toward righting the wrong of inequality in our armed forces, but there is still more work to be done," Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin told BuzzFeed. "Gay and lesbian service members and their families make sacrifices every day, and this country owes them every measure of support we can provide. Since the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' the Obama administration has shown true leadership on this issue."
The issue of same-sex partner benefits has been one of three main issues pushed by advocacy groups since the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in September 2011. The benefits issue, along with an explicit nondiscrimination policy and an end to the ban on out transgender service, were not addressed in the legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in December 2010.
In recent months, a situation in which the same-sex wife of an Army officer was not allowed to join a spouses' group that met at the Fort Bragg installation highlighted the ongoing issues with the military's treatment of gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members.
In addition to the benefits extended today, the advocacy group OutServe-SLDN has an ongoing lawsuit against the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs challenging DOMA to the extent it limits military and veterans' spousal benefits. Although the Obama administration has not been defending that lawsuit, the House Republican leadership has taken up the defense of DOMA in the case as it has in other challenges to the 1996 law.
As recently as Friday night, the government response to inquiries over the past year had been that "the Department of Defense is conducting a deliberative and comprehensive review of the availability of benefits, when legally permissible, to same-sex domestic partners of service members."
While the Pentagon's decision was historic, activists weren't wasting any time calling for further action.
"Even today, the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act makes inequality for gay and lesbian military families a legal requirement. It's time to right this wrong. When the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of DOMA in the coming weeks … [it] should reflect on the sacrifice made by Americans like Staff Sergeant Tracy Johnson, whose wife was killed in action late last year, or the family of Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, who succumbed to cancer earlier this week," Griffin said.
Source is very happy.