SMH.com
WITH the military’s ban on openly gay troops expected to end in the US autumn, advocates for gay and lesbian service members are already looking ahead to the next battle: winning equal benefits for same-sex married couples.
Under the law, particularly the Defence of Marriage Act, the Pentagon is prohibited from giving federally financed benefits to same-sex married couples.
In the military, those benefits include base housing and allowances for off-base housing, health insurance, certain death benefits, legal counselling and access to base commissaries and other stores. No one knows how many same-sex married couples are in the military, since the existing policy, known as »don’t ask, don’t tell », prohibits openly gay people from serving.
The number, however, is thought to be in the hundreds. But with the final repeal of »don’t ask, don’t tell » in the next few months, many advocates expect the number of gay and lesbian married couples in the military to rise significantly.
As those numbers grow, unequal treatment of same-sex married couples will become a source of resentment, advocates for gay troops assert. »There is going to be a collision soon between an open and integrated military and a federal law that prevents what I consider unit cohesion, » Rick Jacobs, chairman and founder of the Courage Campaign, an advocacy group for gay men and lesbians in the military, said.
But Elaine Donnelly, whose policy organisation, the Centre for Military Readiness, is opposed to ending the ban on openly gay troops, said extending equal benefits to same-sex couples would not just be costly but also offensive to some heterosexual couples. »These are things Congress should have considered last year before they voted to repeal the policy, » she said.
Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said the department was studying whether smaller benefits, such as free legal services, could be extended to same-sex spouses.
But she said there would be »no change » in eligibility for major benefits like housing and health care when »don’t ask, don’t tell » goes away. »The Defence of Marriage Act and the existing definition of dependent in some laws prohibit extension of many military benefits to same-sex couples, » she said.
With Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, advocates for gays in the military said the courts might be their best venue for equalising benefits. »It may take some time, » Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defence Network, which advocates for gay and lesbian troops, said.
Unequal benefits for same-sex married couples is one of several thorny issues facing the Pentagon as it enters the final phase of repealing the »don’t ask, don’t tell » policy.
Among other issues are how the Pentagon will handle harassment complaints from gay or lesbian troops and whether it will allow openly transgender people to serve.
The Obama administration has said it will not defend the Defence of Marriage Act in court and recently issued a brief saying it considered the law unconstitutional.