“Our gay and lesbian service members put their lives on the line for every state in our union, and it’s shameful that they and their families are treated as second-class by some of the governments of those states,” said Stephen Peters, president of AMPA. “Our military families deserve better than to have to worry about where in America they will be stationed, and our veterans certainly deserve access to the benefits they earned serving our nation, no matter what state they live in.”
"Our families are no different from any other families in the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs and they deserve to be treated the same,” said Jeffrey Mueller, Co-Chairman of the OutServe-SLDN board. “The extra burden of marriage inequality is affecting military readiness and ultimately affects our national defense. Moving with the military is hard enough, but the added stress of moving to a state that will not recognize your marriage affects their ability to do their job and just is not right. All military families should be treated the same no matter where they serve our great country."
The brief asserts that: "While the strain of frequent moves impacts the recruitment and retention of opposite-sex married couples in the military, that impact is more profound on same-sex married couples in the military. No legally married couple would look fondly upon a move from a state where the couples' marriage is recognized to a state where their marriage is annulled for state-law purposes.... (T)he lack of uniform marriage recognition laws from state to state for same-sex married couples poses a threat to veterans and their families.... Title 38, which confers veterans' benefits, is inartfully drafted and Veterans Affairs ("VA") is struggling to make sense of it. Consequently, veterans' benefits have not yet been forthcoming to all married gay and lesbian service members.... The lack of marriage recognition is a strain on these military families, and an unnecessary distraction for service members who all too often find themselves in harm's way while trying to protect this country. Ending this discrimination by requiring states to recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry would protect these families, and best serve the needs of the modern military."
This is the second amici brief filed jointly by OutServe-SLDN and AMPA this year. As these cases reach the appellate stage, we anticipate filing similar briefs in each of the courts of appeal.
