Veterans Affairs Sued For Denying Gay Marriage Benefits

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is being sued over its refusal to grant spousal benefits to same-sex military couples in states where these marriages are not recognized.

Gay Star News reports the American Military Partner Association (AMPA) with legal counsels Lambda Legal and Morrison and Foerster LLP, filed suit against the VA on Monday, August 18 in the Federal Circuit Court.

"Gay and lesbian veterans have served their country and risked the ultimate sacrifice to fulfill their duty to this nation," said Susan Sommer, Lambda Legal's director of constitutional litigation. "Married veterans and their spouses, wherever they live, need critical veterans benefits, earned through years of often perilous service, to take care of their families. No member of our community should be left behind just because their home state continues to discriminate against their marriage."

AMPA president Stephen Peters, a Marine veteran and spouse of an active duty Marine, said that discrimination against gay and lesbian military service people should not continue. AMPA will argue that same-sex couples must be treated equally, regardless of where they live.

"It is simply unacceptable to see AMPA's members not only discriminated against in their home states where their marriages are disrespected, but also turned down by the federal government for basic veterans benefits for their spouses," he said. "Our members will be denied pension and survivors benefits, home loan guarantees and other earned veterans benefits."

The Gayrva reports that VA Secretary Robert McDonald has been named as a defendant in the case. It argues that denial of benefits to same-sex spouses of veterans who live in states that refuse to recognize their marriage is a violation of the 2013 Supreme Court decision to strike down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, and that deprivation of benefits to same-sex spouses is unconstitutional.

"The VA should not rely on discriminatory state marriage bans that have been declared unconstitutional by federal courts far and wide throughout the country as the basis to deny these spousal benefits now," said Lambda Legal in a statement. "Having weathered the federal government's past, longstanding discrimination against them, lesbian and gay veterans and their families find themselves once again deprived of equal rights and earned benefits by the government they served and the nation for which they sacrificed."