Aubrey Sarvis
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund filed suit in a federal district court Thursday (October 27) challenging the federal Defesne of Marriage Act and its use in denying to gay service members spousal benefits equal to that given to their straight counterparts.
SLDN filed the lawsuit, McLaughlin v. U.S., in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, in Boston, one month after the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law was repealed. DADT prohibited openly gay people from serving in the military.
There are eight plaintiff couples named in the lawsuit, including Major Shannon McLaughlin, a 13-veteran and active duty member of the Army National Guard in Massachusetts, who is married to her same-sex spouse, Casey McLaughlin, who is also a named plaintiff. The lawsuit notes that while the two children McLaughlin and her spouse are raising together are eligible for benefits from the military, McLaughlin’s spouse is not. Weeks after the enactment of DADT repeal, the Army told McLaughlin her same-sex spouse was not eligible for benefits.
Plaintiffs also include U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Colonel Victoria Hudson, a 32-year veteran of the service, and her spouse Monika Poxon of Alameda County, California. Hudson and Poxon were married in California in 2008, before voters amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
Plaintiffs also include Vietnam War veteran Colonel Stewart Bornhoft and his spouse Stephen McNabb. Bornhoft entered military service in 1965 when he entered the U.S. Military Academy. In 2008, Bornhoft and McNabb were married in San Diego, and this month, a few weeks after repeal of DADT was enacted, Bornhoft applied in San Diego to include McNabb as his spouse to receive military benefits and was denied.
Best known among the plaintiffs is active duty Army Captain Steve Hill, who is serving in Iraq and who posed a question about DADT repeal to Republican presidential candidates via youtube during a recent national television debate. Hill married his spouse, Joshua Snyder, in Washington, D.C., in May. The Army denied Hill’s request for spousal benefits for Snyder.
The lawsuit argues that DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection to the plaintiffs and the 10th Amendment rights that empower the states to regulate and define marriage for their citizens.
“We are not advocating any special treatment for the families of gay and lesbian service members or veterans,” said SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, in a statement released Thursday, “but we want to underscore that all military families should be treated the same when it comes to recognition, benefits and family support.”
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DOMA denies 1,138 federal benefits to all same-sex couples, and cuts compensation of military personnel up to 40% ($250,000 over a career), including 275 active/reserve duty benefits and 93 veteran benefits.
It is the most discriminatory law on the books, and was enacted solely because one group of people decided to hurt, stigmatize, and disenfranchise another group of people.
DOMA has already been found unconstitutional by the Executive branch and is no longer being defended there, and it will be repealed by the Legislative branch, and/or overturned by the Judicial branch.
In the meantime, most presidential candidates are vowing to continue this bigotry.