BY DONNA CASSATA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington is top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Smith is introducing legislation to make the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments recognize any marriage that has been recognized by a state, the District of Columbia, commonwealths or territories.
His bill would change the definition of spouse in the U.S. code to include same-sex marriages.
Gay marriage is now legal in the District of Columbia and six states - Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.
Smith says spouses of service members should not be barred from receiving benefits because they are in same-sex marriages.
Gays now serve openly in the military.
It was my belief that this can already be done by some kind of military 'fiat' right from the Pentagon, but hasn't. Wouldn't it violate DOMA? and what about forcing it to happen in states that ban marriage?
Posted by: LOrion | June 28, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Nothing in DOMA forbids the legislature from conferring benefits on same-sex married couples; if those benefits are the same ones that opposite-sex married couples get, DOMA doesn't interfere with that.
Posted by: David Henderson | June 28, 2012 at 04:30 PM
Back when DADT was removed, Tony Perkins, head of FRC called it "a tragedy for our armed forces"
Turns out that tony is a racist. people who hate one group usually hate others because they hate themselves.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/picture-worth-thousand-memories
Another example of Perkins type of 'mentality' is
George Rekers, founder of the FRC.
Turns out that Rekers is another secretly gay self hating phobe.
http://www.ranker.com/list/top-10-anti-gay-activists-caught-being-gay/joanne
Posted by: Katie Murphy - ex catholic family | June 29, 2012 at 03:52 AM