A day after the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) filed suit upon behalf of gay troops whose partners do not have access to spousal benefits, the Pentagon has released a memo identifying 14 benefits that gay servicemembers can access. Six of these benefits are “new” since the guidelines originally released upon the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, including allowing same-sex partners to attend Yellow Ribbon Reintegration events. The full list includes:

– Service Members Group Life Insurance beneficiary;

– Post Vietnam-era Veterans Assistance Program beneficiary;

– All-volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program – Active Duty Death Benefit beneficiary;

– Death Gratuity beneficiary;

– Final Settlement of Accounts;

– Wounded Warrior Designated Caregiver;

– Thrift Savings Plan beneficiary;

– Survivor Benefit for retirees;

– Casualty Notification;

– Escorts for Dependents of Deceased or Missing;

– Designation of Persons Having Interest in Status of a Missing Member;

– Veterans’ Group Life Insurance beneficiary;

– Person Eligible to Receive Effects of Deceased Persons; and

– Travel and Transportation Allowance: attendance at Yellow Ribbon Reintegration events.

Notably missing from the list are central issues in the Defense of Marriage Act lawsuit, including the extension of health benefits to spouses, allowing non-military spouses access to health services for their children, and the ability for same-sex families to live together on base. In fact, Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN’s executive director, points out that “the benefits outlined today were, in fact, available even before the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) vehemently opposes LGBT equality at every turn, but today went so far as to call marriage equality “a threat to the nation’s survival.” This fear-mongering rivals that of Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern (R), who has repeatedly compared the LGBT community to terrorists. In his comments today to the Family Research Council, an anti-gay hate group, he suggested that marriage is a “special right” just for heterosexuals and that somehow marriage equality would eliminate the “launching pad of the next generation,” insinuating that society would die out as a result. Right Wing Watch has the full account:

FRANKS: We understand that when we’re granting the rights of marriage, that that’s a special right Tony, that’s something we have suggested is clearly the best possible way to see children raised through the best possible environment to launch the next generation, we believe that with all of our hearts as a society, I think most people understand that. So we’ve set aside this special area of the law that says we’re going to respect traditional marriage of a man and a woman because that is the launching pad of the next generation. Let’s face it; we have made a special exception in the law that gives special consideration and recognition to that.

And when people would come along and blur that distinction and say ‘well that should apply in every way’ it not only is a complete undermining of the principles of family and marriage and the hope of future generations but it completely begins to see our society break down to the extent that that foundational unit of the family that is the hope of survival of this country is diminished to the extent that it literally is a threat to the nation’s survival in the long run.

Listen to it:

Our guest blogger is Crosby Burns, special assistant for the LGBT Research and Communications Project at American Progress.

Today, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced federal legislation that would bar discrimination against prospective LGBT adoptive or foster parents. The “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” prohibits any organization that receives federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placements from discriminating against prospective adoptive or foster parents on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) introduced the same bill in the House earlier this year, which currently has 76 co-sponsors.

LGBT couples looking to adopt currently face discrimination in more than 30 states, and if passed, Gilibrand’s bill would ensure that no child is left without a home because their adoption agency or foster care provider discriminated against prospective LGBT caretakers. There are currently approximately 400,000 children in the US foster system, with an additional 107,000 children nationwide waiting to be adopted.

This bill comes the same week that a broad coalition of LGBT and social welfare organizations released a comprehensive report, All Children Matter, that documents the ways in which state and federal laws hurt the more than 2 million children living with LGBT parents. For example, the report identified state and federal adoption policies that prevent children from leaving the adoptive and foster care system and entering into loving homes headed by LGBT couples. These policies have disastrous implications for our nation’s children, putting them at a higher risk for poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and early parenthood.

The report also offers numerous policy recommendations – such removing restrictions to LGBT adoption – to ensure that all children have the financial and emotional support needed to develop happily and healthily. Studies have consistently found that LGBT parents are just as fit and effective as straight parents, and their children are just as well-adjusted and physically and psychologically developed.

Bishop William Lori of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Oct. 26 about the “grave threats to religious liberty that have emerged even since June.” Lori specifically singled out the administration’s refusal to defend the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and state efforts to expand marriage equality to gays and lesbians:

The federal Department of Justice (DoJ) has ratcheted up its attack on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by mischaracterizing it as an act of bigotry….If the label of “bigot” sticks to our Church and many other churches—especially in court, under the Constitution—because of their teaching on marriage, the result will be church-state conflicts for many years to come. [...]

At the state level, religious liberty protections associated with the redefinition of marriage have fallen far short of what is necessary. In New York, county clerks face legal action for refusing to participate in same-sex unions, and gay rights advocates boast how little religious freedom protection individuals and groups will enjoy under the new law. In Illinois, Catholic Charities has been driven out of the adoption and foster care business, because it recognizes the unique value of man-woman marriage for the well-being of children. [...]

We also applaud the decision of the House to take up the defense of DOMA in court after DoJ abandoned it, and we urge you to sustain that effort for as long as necessary to obtain definitive confirmation of its constitutionality.

The Catholic Church has led the opposition to same-sex marriage across the country (including fights in California, Maine, New York, and now Minnesota), despite limited support from American Catholics. A recent poll found that just 35 percent of Catholics oppose same-sex marriage and only 16 percent of Catholics say church leaders have “the final say” on homosexuality, down from 32 percent over the past 25 years.