Quote of the Day

"What Shannon and Casey are seeking is the same treatment that their straight counterparts, who are legally married, receive every day without question and take for granted."—Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, who is organizing a lawsuit brought by Massachusetts Army National Guard Major Shannon McLaughlin, 41, her wife, Casey, 34, five other troops, and two career Army and Navy veterans, who are "challenging the constitutionality of the federal ban on gay marriage and federal policy that define a spouse as a person of the opposite sex."

This was the inevitable result once Don't Ask Don't Tell was rescinded, because now DOMA prevents spouses of legally married gay servicemembers from accessing benefits provided to spouses of married straight servicemembers by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs, including "military identification cards, access to bases, recreational programs, spousal support groups and burial rights at national cemeteries." Maj. Shannon McLaughlin, for example, is able to enroll their 10-month-old twins in her military-provided healthcare plan, but is not allowed to add her wife Casey, who instead has to pay about $700 monthly for her own healthcare coverage, despite the fact they are Massachusetts residents who are legally married in their state.

This patchwork of rights and access is unsustainable. It's only a matter of time before the US federal government is forced to recognize same-sex marriage, and soon thereafter the entire house of bigoted cards will crumble. Heh heh heh.