After ruling, gay veterans get marriage benefits
May help hundreds of thousands
WASHINGTON — Days after the Supreme Court ruled that the right to marry must be open to gays, the Department of Veterans Affairs has moved immediately to extend marital benefits to same-sex couples who were denied them — even in states where they were available to other federal retirees.
The new policy lifts restrictions on veterans’ pensions, VA-backed home loans, burial rights, survivor benefits and disability compensation for same-sex married couples in every state, a victory that advocates estimate could affect hundreds of thousands of veterans.
“We are thrilled that they are acting so quickly,” said Chris Rowsee, director of family readiness for the American Military Partners Association, which sued VA last year on behalf of veterans who were denied spousal benefits. The lawsuit was on hold pending the Supreme Court decision.
Other veterans groups praised the new policy as a historic shift in a community whose older members were resistant just four years ago to lifting the military’s long-standing ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual troops serving openly.
“For our generation of veterans, marriage equality is definitely a core issue,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which supported the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Because of a long-standing federal law that applied only to veterans, thousands of gay and lesbian veterans were shut out of dozens of benefits the federal government extended to same-sex spouses starting in 2013. That’s when the court, in an earlier decision, invalidated language in the Defense of Marriage Act that had defined a marriage — for federal benefits purposes — as only between a man and a woman.
The policy also lifts restrictions on dependency claims for compensation and pension, survivors pensions, dependency and indemnity compensation, accrued benefits, home loan guarantees, education (GI bill), burials and health care, officials said.
“VA, at the end of day, is involved in very sensitive family issues, whether it’s burials, disability benefits compensation, health care for the dying,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Social Security Administration, LaVenia LaVelle, said in a statement that the agency is “working with the Department of Justice to analyze the decision and provide instructions specific to the decision for Americans who rely on our programs and services.”