WTF?!
While gays in the military are set to celebrate the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, there’s still one more hurdle they will have yet to overcome.
With gay marriage being legal in many states like Washington D.C. and New York, more and more couples plan to get married. Unfortunately, for those in the military, they will be unable to share their benefits with their spouses.
The federal Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman, which prohibits the Defense Department from extending benefits to gay couples, even if they were married legal in those particular states.
Navy medical corpsman Andrew James says:
“It strains a relationship when you’re gone for over a year. But straight couples have support so their spouses are able to be taken care of, with financial issues, and also they are able to talk to the chain of command, whereas gays can’t. They don’t have any support at all financially or emotionally, and that is really devastating.”
Gay spouses will also be denied military ID cards and will not receive the same discounts that straight couple spouses receive. And, what’s worse is they will not be eligible for travel allowances to attend repatriation ceremonies if their military spouses are killed in action.
This is so unbelievably sad and just completely unfair.
[Image via AP Images.]