Here’s Progress: Pentagon Opens Some Benefits To Gay Military Spouses

Housing privileges, access to recreational facilities and joint duty assignments are on the way

There’s more good news for LGBT members of the U.S. armed forces. The Pentagon has decided to extend new benefits for the spouses of gay personnel, a move that likely came after intense pressure from same-sex couples in the military. The new benefits may include housing privileges, access to on-base recreational facilities and the option to have the same duty assignment as your uniformed spouse. However, more than 100 other spousal benefits and health-care coverage can’t be extended until the federal ban on such benefits, known as the Defense of Marriage Act, is formally ended. In his first term, President Barack Obama instructed the Justice Department to stop defending the DOMA law, which is set to go before the Supreme Court next month. Fingers crossed for those loving couples look to be “treated like anyone else under the law,” as Obama says in his second inaugural address. (Washington Post)

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