BREAKING: Married Gay Veterans to Receive Benefits
Married gay and lesbian veterans will now be eligible for the same benefits afforded to married straight veterans, according to an announcement from Attorney General Eric Holder today.
The federal government will no longer enforce language within Title 38 of the U.S. Code, which forbids the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense from recognizing as legal any marriage other than that of one man and one woman.
Today's announcement is the latest in an ongoing series of statutory and procedural changes arriving as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic ruling on June 26 in Windsor v. U.S., striking down a key segment of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited the federal government from recognizing any same-sex marriages, even from states that had embraced marriage equality.
“Although the Supreme Court did not directly address the constitutionality of the Title 38 provisions in Windsor, the reasoning of the opinion strongly supports the conclusion that those provisions are unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment,” wrote Holder in a letter to congressional leaders obtained by The Advocate. "Like Section 3 [of DOMA], the Title 38 provisions have the effect of placing lawfully married same-sex couples in a 'second tier marriage,' which 'departs from [a] history and tradition of reliance on state law to define marriage.'"
http://www.advocate.com/politics/military/2013/09/04/married-gay-veterans-receive-benefits
= new reply since forum marked as read
August 14, 2013
The Pentagon is expected to announce Wednesday that married gay military service members and their spouses will be offered the same benefits as straight married couples as early as September, NBC News reported.
Also included in the announcement will reportedly be a "marraige leave" program for gay couples. Service members stationed in one of the 37 states where gay marriage is illegal will be allowed to take up to 10 days of leave to travel to one of the 13 states or Washington, D.C. where gay marriage is legal.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/pentagon-to-announce-equal-benefits-for-married-gay
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10023461008
Thats why Mr. Holder made the announcement today.
The August article said: "... that married gay military service members and their spouses will be offered the same benefits as straight married couples as early as September..."
So, I thought that this was the 'September' announcement that was inferred in the August article.
And I guess that I just assumed that ALL military folks including veterans were included in the 'first' announcement.
Anyway - all of it is good
