While You’re Bashing Russia for its Homophobic Laws, Remember…

[MADem]

63. I have a feeling that deny benefits business ain't gonna last.

It calls into question a lot of "reciprocal" agreements between states. If states aren't going to recognize marriages from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, how would they like it if the Commonwealth decided to not recognize marriages from their state?


The military is also giving leave to people who want to marry, but the state where they are stationed won't permit it, so they can go to another state and have a proper wedding with family and friends.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-military-same-sex-20130815,0,6573151.story

In a sign of how quickly society is changing, the Pentagon said Wednesday it would grant special leave to thousands of military personnel in same-sex relationships so they can get married in the 13 states where such unions are legal — making them eligible for the first time for full benefits provided to other military families.

The decision, which the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously backed, places the military in the forefront of the still-contentious national debate over same-sex unions. It follows the Supreme Court ruling in June to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, which had said the federal government would recognize marriages only between a man and a woman.

Under the new policy, legally married same-sex couples can qualify for military housing allowances, healthcare, access to base shopping exchanges, extra compensation when a spouse in the military is deployed and unable to live at home, and a wide range of other benefits long available to other military families, the Pentagon said.

"It is now the department's policy to treat all married military personnel equally," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday in a memorandum outlining the new policy. He ordered the Defense Department to provide all military spouses and their children the same benefits "regardless of whether they are in same-sex or opposite-sex marriages."

I am very pleased about this, I must say. I worked on the transition team for integrating gays into the military at the DOD level, way back in the nineties. It was an awful lot of work; mostly ensuring that directives were re-drafted to match (what we thought was going to be) the new policy. Then, when Clinton couldn't push it past Congress and the DADT compromise became the fallback position, we had to go do it all over again from the less than optimal perspective, which was a huge disappointment. It's nice to see it finally coming around all these years later; benefits, dependency status, housing, the whole nine yards.