It took 17 months, but the Defense Department has finally issued guidance about benefits that can be extended to the same-sex partners of military servicemembers now that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” no longer requires that they hide their identities. The list does not address some serious issues of concern, including health care, housing, and survivor benefits because of the Defense of Marriage Act, but does allow servicemembers to designate specific protections to their partners, including some through the recognition of a domestic partnership. Here are a few of the new benefits:

Member-Designated Benefits

• Service Members Group Life Insurance Beneficiary
• Veterans’ Group Life Insurance Beneficiary
• Survivor Benefit Plan Beneficiary for Retirees
• Casualty Notification
• Designation of Persons Having Interest in Status of a Missing Member
• Hospital Visitation Privileges
• Designation of Persons Authorized to Direct Disposition of Remains of Members of the Armed Force
• Presentation of the Flag of the United States

Additional Benefits for Same-Sex Domestic Partners

• Dependent ID cards
• Commissary Privileges
• Exchange Privileges
• Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs
• Emergency Leave
• Youth Programs
• Family Center Programs
• Child Care
• Legal Assistance
• Joint Duty Assignments

The memo announcing the benefits notes that should the Defense of Marriage Act no longer apply to the department, policy will be to “construe the words ‘spouse’ and ‘marriage’ without regard to sexual orientation, and married couples, irrespective of sexual orientation, and their dependents, will be granted full military benefits.” It also contains a new process for same-sex couples to declare to the military that they are, in fact, domestic partners, which presumably even couples that are already married would have to fulfill to receive the benefits.

OutServe-SLDN praised outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for “getting us a few steps closer to full equality.”

Navy Senior Chief Jonathan Franqui and husband Dwayne Beebe

The Pentagon is set to announce that it will extend some partner benefits to gay and lesbian service members as early as today. While the Department of Defense is unlikely to find a way to offer full health-care coverage and more than 93 other spousal benefits granted by Congress while the Defense of Marriage Act remains in effect, outgoing Defense Secretary Panetta must seize the opportunity to extend these benefits to same-sex military spouses to the fullest extent possible under the law.

The checklist of 11 benefits Secretary Panetta can and should extend to same-sex military spouses include:

• Allowing same-sex dual-military spouses to be considered for joint duty assignments to assure that their families will not be forced to separate as a result of the military’s need to routinely relocate personnel. As the regulation is currently written, same-sex spouses are not eligible for joint duty assignments, so they are at increased risk of separation when they receive orders for a new duty station.
• Issuing explicit guidance that states a same-sex spouse cannot be prevented from visiting a spouse or a child in a military hospital because that couple’s marriage isn’t recognized by the federal government. Current Pentagon regulations allow military health treatment facilities that do not participate in Medicare to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Issuing military identification cards to same-sex partners of military personnel so they can shop at military commissaries, and access gymnasiums, movie theaters, and other family support programs on bases and posts that are freely available to heterosexual spouses. Military regulations currently do not allow a same-sex spouse to obtain such a military identification card and bar these military family members from taking advantage of on-base benefits and support programs.

Since the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” military families headed by same-sex spouses have been barred from accessing these legally available benefit programs and support services.  In his last days before leaving office, Defense Secretary Panetta can and must extend benefits to same-sex military spouses. Doing so would not only uphold the strong civil rights record he has accrued at the Defense Department, but would also send a clear message to Congress and the Supreme Court that we must ensure that all our military members — gay, straight, male, or female — are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Our guest bloggers are Robert Avruch, intern for CAP External Affairs, and Katie Miller, Special Assistant for LGBT Progress.

The officers’ spouses club at Ft. Bragg has finally offered a full complete membership to same-sex Ashley Broadway, ending the club’s discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses (ABOS) released this statement explaining the update to its policies:

After further reviewing the (club’s) constitution, by-laws and internal procedures, the ABOS Board felt that in order to immediately support all military Officer spouses who are eligible for ABOS membership a more inclusive definition of spouse was needed. Therefore, any Spouse of an active duty commissioned or warrant Officer with a valid marriage certificate from any state or district in the United States is eligible for ABOS membership,” the club’s board said in a statement.

ABOS does not discriminate based on race, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, creed, or sexual orientation. ABOS would like to publicly invite Ms. Broadway to apply for full membership to ABOS. It is and always has been our mission to support all military families.

This is quite the turnaround from November, when ABOS arbitrarily required Broadway to present a military ID, which are still not provided to same-sex military spouses. Earlier this month, the group offered her a “guest membership,” which she rejected. Now, she’s “overjoyed” to join as a full member:

BROADWAY: I have further reason to take pride in the Ft. Bragg military community, knowing that we, as military spouses, are able to come together to support each other, our soldiers, and our families.

Though this change ends the controversy for Broadway, it does not end the many questions that remain since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed in 2011, such as equal access to housing benefits, military ID cards, legal services, and other spousal privileges.. Though the Pentagon has supposedly been “reviewing” how it will handle same-sex couples now that they aren’t hidden from view, no action has been taken in those 16 months. The White House continues to dodge questions, saying no more than, “this issue has the president’s attention.”

This morning came news that the Association of Bragg Officers Spouses (ABOS) at Ft. Bragg had extended a “guest membership” to Ashley Broadway, the lesbian spouse of Lt. Col. Heather Mack. This concession was to serve as a temporary solution until the group reconsidered its membership policies, which it arbitrarily changed to exclude her. This afternoon, the L.A. Times is reporting that Broadway has rejected the offer, calling it ”not only offensive, but just plain hurtful”:

BROADWAY: My wife wears the same uniform as the spouses of [the club] and she’s just as prepared to give her life for our country. I wake up each and every day to the reality that I’m not equal, that my 15 years of love and faithfulness to my wife and country does not mean I’ll receive support as a military spouse.

Broadway and Mack married in November, but have been together for 15 years. The Pentagon has been supposedly reviewing military benefits for same-sex couples since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” took effect in September 2011, but has yet to take action.

Ashley Broadway, Lt. Col. Heather Mack, and Carson

The Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses, the military spouses group at Ft. Bragg, has offered a “guest membership” to Ashley Broadway, the same-sex spouse of Lt. Col. Heather Mack who they blocked last month from joining. In fact, the group arbitrarily changed its rules to require an active ID card — a benefit same-sex spouses are not currently afforded — specifically to keep her from being eligible. In the letter offering the guest membership, the Association of Bragg Officers Spouses (ABOS) claimed it has been reviewing its by-laws since July 2012, but the timing is definitely suspect.

Though the “guest membership” may provide temporary relief for Broadway, it is not a workable solution to the discrimination at hand. Stephen Peters, executive director of the American Military Partner Association, offered this reaction to BuzzFeed:

PETERS: Ashley is not a ‘guest’ military spouse. She is a military spouse, plain and simple. So the idea that the organization, in order to end the negative attention they are getting because of their outright discrimination, wants to give her a ‘guest membership’ is not only offensive, but ridiculous. The ABOS openly admits a military ID card is not listed as a requirement, yet they continue to deny her full membership.

Both the Ft. Bragg leadership and Pentagon have refused to take accountability for allowing the spouses’ group’s discrimination to persist and the Army has remained silent. The organization is private and is not obligated to abide by the Defense of Marriage Act, so the anti-gay discrimination is totally of its own accord. Meanwhile, the Marines responded by prohibiting such discrimination on their bases.

David Hall (OutServe-SLDN)

President Obama has named eight “citizen co-chairs” who will play a significant role in the inaugural events this weekend. Many are individuals who have benefited from the President’s economic and health care reforms, but one in particular is an Air Force pilot who was discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but who worked to repeal that law:

Following in the footsteps of his father and stepfather, David joined the Air Force in March 1996. He was promoted to staff sergeant and graduated as a distinguished graduate from Airman Leadership School. After re-enlisting for another four years, he applied for Air Force ROTC and was selected under the Professional Officer Course – Early Release Program. He was excited to receive a pilot slot but was dis-enrolled for “homosexual conduct” in August 2002 after a fellow cadet told his commanders that he is gay. Following the Air Force, David worked on the successful repeal of DADT through Out Serve – SLDN.

There was a day where it would be profound if a President gave any recognition to a gay man whatsoever. Now, a gay man who works for an LGBT organization and who helped fight an anti-gay law is being featured as a spokesperson for the President’s vision of America. This is an incredibly symbolic milestone for the progress of LGBT equality.

Jeremy Hooper uncovered a sermon delivered last July by the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins. In it, he makes the most odious comparison, juxtaposing gay soldiers marching in a pride parade to the Aurora shooting and pedophiles kidnapping children:

PERKINS: I believe we see a generation rising that proclaims neither a dedication to our nation or Almighty God. I mean, just look at some of the headlines that took place this week:

The most tragic mass shooting in the history of our nation at the opening event of the latest Batman movie.

Yesterday for the first time in the history of our nation’s military, men and women in uniform marched in a gay pride parade in San Diego, California.

Children are being snatched off our streets almost daily, taken from their parents and their families by perverted individuals pursuing their own interests and desires.

I ask you this morning, “Are we a nation under God or are on the verge being a nation gone under?”

Listen to it:

Here is a picture of those servicemembers marching in the San Diego LGBT Pride Parade in uniform:

Here is an image of the 12 individuals murdered in the Aurora, Colorado shooting:

Not only does Tony Perkins believe these two incidents are equally as tragic, he preaches to others that they should feel the same way. It’s this kind of demonization of gays and lesbians that prompts the Southern Poverty Law Center to designate the Family Research Council as a hate group. Just one month after Perkins delivered this sermon, FRC was unfortunately targeted by a gunman who wounded a security guard but luckily did not kill anyone.  At that time FRC blamed the SPLC for granting a “license” for violence with its “hate group” label. Of course, when the FBI’s latest hate crime statistics showed that the number of incidents targeting a person’s sexual orientation went up even though the incidents targeting other groups went down, FRC had no comment.

The Pentagon announce Tuesday that it will allow military spouses clubs to continue functioning on bases even if they discriminate against same-sex spouses, according to BuzzFeed. The club at Fort Bragg arbitrarily changed its rules last month to prevent a same-sex spouse, Ashley Broadway, from joining, even though nothing in the club’s policies should have excluded her. Spouses clubs operate as private organizations, and thus are not bound to the Defense of Marriage Act, but Army officials have obfuscated responsibility for allowing the groups to discriminate by pointing out that the military’s nondiscrimination policy does not protect sexual orientation.

As BuzzFeed points out, the applicable instruction that dictates nondiscrimination expectations for private organizations has not been revised since 2008, years before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Rather than hide behind this technicality, the Marines took the bold step last week of requiring spouses clubs on their bases not to discriminate against same-sex spouses, pointing out that it constitutes discrimination based on sex. Unfortunately, this does not help Broadway, because the Army refuses to offer the same protections.

OutServe-SLDN’s Allyson Robinson holds Lt. Gen. Dabiel B Allyn, Commanding General of Fort Bragg, responsible for allowing the discrimination:

ROBINSON: This response sounds like a very defensive final answer on the matter from General Allyn and from his command. As a private organization, the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses is free to discriminate, but what Gen. Allyn, I think, would like for us to forget is that he doesn’t have to provide support or dedicate resources to an organization that blatantly discriminates against certain families in his command. The responsibility here is still his.

He is doubling down on anti-gay discrimination in his community on the very day that the likely next secretary of defense has pledged himself, historically, to using all of his authority to give out as equitable a situation for gay and lesbian military families as he possibly can under law. I think that what we’re seeing at Fort Bragg highlights the need for leadership from the Pentagon to bring some consistency across the U.S. Armed Forces.

An easy solution to this issue would be for the spouses clubs to just not discriminate. Instead, they have effectively demonstrated the ongoing mistreatment of gay, lesbian, and bisexual servicemembers in the wake of DADT — not just by discriminating themselves, but by encouraging military leadership to condone that discrimination.

President Obama nominating Chuck Hagel as his Secretary of Defense.

In a letter responding to questions from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel addressed concerns about his support for LGBT equality in the military. He made it clear that he supports the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy that required gay, lesbian, and bisexual troops to hide their identities, and expressed his intent to provide equal benefits to the same-sex partners and families of servicemembers:

I fully support the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and value the service of all those who fight for our country. I know firsthand the profound sacrifice our service members and their families make, and if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, I will do everything possible to the extent permissible under current law to provide equal benefits to the families of all our service members.

Currently, the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the military from recognizing servicemembers’ same-sex spouses, which can result in tragic consequences in addition to the denial of benefits.

Hagel’s nomination has been criticized because of anti-gay comments he made in 1998 about the nomination of James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg, calling him “openly aggressively gay.” Hagel apologized for those remarks last month, and Hormel responded that he had accepted that apology. As discussion of his nomination has continued, LGBT groups have been split over Hagel’s nomination, with some groups expressing concern and others imploring him to move past his anti-gay past by embracing further changes to ensure the equal treatment of LGBT servicemembers. His support for finding a way to protect same-sex spouses suggests he intends to do just that. Boxer now says she supports Hagel’s nomination.

The Marine Corps has taken a bold step towards inclusion by advising that any military spouse club operating on a Marine installation must admit same-sex spouses if it wishes to continue operating. A legal memo circulated this week advises that refusing to admit a same-sex spouse constitutes discrimination based on sex, even though the nondiscrimination statement does not include sexual orientation. The Marine Corps is so far the first and only branch of the military to take this step.

The decision stems from a controversy at the Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where a spouses’ club refused to admit Ashley Broadway, the wife of an officer serving there. In fact, the club arbitrarily changed its rules just to exclude her. Multiple attempts to address the situation with the fort’s leadership have proven to be nothing but delay tactics. According to OutServe-SLDN, Fort Bragg is now offering a “consolation prize” that does nothing to remedy the situation:

Today, Broadway was notified in an email that Fort Bragg will allow the issuance of “Friends of Bragg” passes to same sex spouses who can show a marriage certificate from one of the states performing same sex marriages and whose military spouse sponsors them. This will allow the spouses access to Fort Bragg without going through the inspection lane. It will not, however, allow shopping privileges at the post exchange or commissary nor any other service granted to military dependents. The passes are Fort Bragg specific and will not be honored at other installations of government facilities. There is no indication that the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses will grant membership based on this “Friends” pass.

Because sposues’ clubs are independently managed, they do not fall under the purview of the federal government’s adherence to the Defense of Marriage Act; thus, there is no requirement that they discriminate against same-sex couples. The Marines’ step of setting clear expectations for how the clubs can function is commendable, but it’s unclear if other branches — or the Department of Defense itself — have any intention of following suit.