In a move that is going to drive the Christofascists berserk and send gallons of spittle flying, the U. S. Department of Justice has announced that it will no longer defend laws that seek to deny legally married same sex couples benefits extended to heterosexual service members. Why? Because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. LGBT service members risk their lives, sacrifice their individual freedom and subject their families to the travails of having a member of the military in the family just as heterosexual services members do. And believe me, with a daughter engaged to a member of the U.S. Army and an office receptionist married to a member of the U.S. Navy (not to mention the LGBT servicemembers I know and their spouses), I see daily the sacrifices that these individuals make and the burdens it places on spouses. The ONLY rationale behind the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") is a combination of anti-gay animus and religious based discrimination. Thank goodness that the Obama DOJ has finally opened its eyes to the reality of DOMA. Here are highlights from Talking Points Memo:
Yes, indeed, the Christianists and their groveling political whores in the Republican Party are going to go berserk. Here's Attorney General Holder's letter (click the images to enlarge):
The Obama Justice Department has concluded that legislation banning same-sex couples from receiving military and veterans benefits violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment and will no longer defend the statute in court, Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders on Friday.
“The legislative record of these provisions contains no rationale for providing veterans’ benefits to opposite-sex couples of veterans but not to legally married same-sex spouses of veterans,” Holder wrote. “Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Veterans Affairs identified any justifications for that distinction that would warrant treating these provisions differently from Section 3 of DOMA.”
Holder said DOJ would no longer defend the provisions in Title 38 which prevent same-sex couples who are legally married from obtaining benefits. He said that Congress would be provided a “full and fair opportunity” to defend the statues in the McLaughlin v. Panetta case if they wished to do so.
As Holder writes, the benefits in question “include medical and dental benefits, basic housing allowances, travel and transportation allowances, family separation benefits, military identification cards, visitation rights in military hospitals, survivor benefits, and the right to be buried together in military cemetaries.”
Yes, indeed, the Christianists and their groveling political whores in the Republican Party are going to go berserk. Here's Attorney General Holder's letter (click the images to enlarge):
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