Blog Post

Department of Defense Extends Some Benefits to Same-Sex Partners
Posted by Kate O'Gorman on February 19

Last week, the Department of Defense announced that it will extend additional benefits to the same-sex partners of service members. Following the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, few benefits were available to same-sex partners of service members, but the DoD committed to reviewing all available benefits to see which could be extending to same-sex partners under existing law. While some questions remain, the announcement furthers understanding about what benefits are currently available to same-sex partners, which will become available in the future, and which benefits cannot be extended to same-sex partners without change in law. 

The Department of Defense made clear the benefits already available to same-sex partners. These benefits are not based on marriage or a particular relationship between the service member and that person, but awarded to anyone that a service member designates. These benefits include hospital visitation rights, survivor and travel benefits. You can see a full list below. 

The DoD announced that additional benefits will be available to service members and their same-sex partners who sign a Declaration of Domestic Partnership. This declaration must be signed by both a service member and their partner and states that they are in a committed relationship to one another, share “a significant measure of each other’s common welfare and financial obligations,” and have and intend to have a common residence unless prohibited from doing so by the service member’s military service. Signing this declaration will make same-sex partners and children of same-sex partners eligible for benefits such as receiving a military ID, access to base commissaries, child care programs, and other benefits. The DoD said that all of these changes will be implemented no later than October 1, 2013. Other benefits, such as access to on-base housing, still remain under review. You can see a full list of benefits that will become available below. 

Many benefits, including health care and housing allowances, will remain unavailable to same-sex partners of service members. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed in 1996, requires all government agencies to define a marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and a spouse as someone of the opposite sex. As a result, no benefit that is based on marriage or given to a “spouse” may be extended to same-sex partners without repealing or overturning DOMA. If DOMA is overturned by a pending Supreme Court Case, the DoD announced that they will extend these benefits to same-sex partners too. 

Benefits currently available to same-sex partners based on a service-member’s designation (from the DoD Memorandum): 

• Service Members Group Life Insurance Beneficiary
• Post Vietnam-Era Veterans Assistance Program Beneficiary
• All-Volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program--Active Duty Death Benefit
• Death Gratuity Beneficiary
• Final Settlement of Accounts Beneficiary
• Wounded Warrior Designated Caregiver
• Thrift Savings Plan Beneficiary
• Survivor Benefit Plan Beneficiary for Retirees
• Casualty Notification
• Escorts for Dependents of Deceased of Missing Members--Elligibility to be an Escort
• Designation of Persons Having Interest in Status of a Missing Member
• Veterans’ Group Life Insurance Beneficiary
• Person Eligible to Receive Effects of Deceased Persons
• Travel and Transportation Allowance: Attendance at Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Events
• Travel and Transportation Allowance: Transportation of Designated Individuals Incident to Hospitalization of Members for Treatment of Wounds, Illness, Injury
• Designation of Persons Authorized to Direct Disposition of Remains of Members of the Armed Forces
• Presentation of the Flag of the United States
• Transportation for Survivors of Deceased Member to Attend the Member’s Burial Ceremony or Memorial Service
• Hospital Visitation Privileges
• Membership in Family Readiness Groups

Benefits granted to same-sex partners and their children who have signed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership (from the DoD's Memorandum): 

• Dependent ID Cards
• Commissary Privileges
• Exchange Privileges
• Morale, Welfare and Recreation Programs
• Surveys of Military Families
• Quadrennial Quality of Life Review
• Emergency Leave
• Emergency Leave of Absence
• Youth Sponsorship Program
• Youth Programs
• Family Center Programs
• Sexual Assault Counseling Program
• Joint Duty Assignments
• Exemption from Hostile-Fire Areas
• Transportation to and from Certain Places of Employment and on Military Installations
• Transportation to and from Primary and Secondary School for Minor Dependents
• Authority of Service Secretary to Transport Remains of a Dependent
• Disability and Death Compensation: Dependents of Members Held as Captives
• Payment to Missing Persons
• Space-Available Travel on DoD Aircraft
• Child Care
• Legal Assistance

Kate O'Gorman is IAVA's Political Director and works out of our Washington, D.C office. 

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