On March 27, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in United States v. Windsor, a case that will answer for this generation the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 federal law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and ensured that same-sex couples are not entitled to share in the same benefit systems as their straight counterparts.
To raise awareness of DOMA's legacy of discrimination, the Respect for Marriage Coalition hosted a teleconference March 13, in which two former Congressmen (former U.S. Navy Three-Star Admiral Joe Sestak and Iraq War Veteran Patrick Murphy), OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Allyson Robinson and Staff Sgt. Tracy Johnson discussed the harmful effects the act continues to have on the military, including the estimated 67,000 LGBT personnel currently serving.
Murphy stated, "We're trying to put pressure on the elected leaders of our country to do the right thing and speak out against this injustice, and also, for the Supreme Court to understand that it's a defining moment and that they need to be on the right side of history."
Sestak said, "We have long known that supporting service members' families affects our military's effectiveness, as well as our ability to recruit and retain." In his belief, "DOMA is neither correct nor practical."
Robinson, herself a former Army commander, held that while today's LGBT soldiers "can be out ... they are anything but equal."
"It's not commonly known among civilians," she continued, "but, on average, 70 percent of an active duty service member's compensation comes in the form of benefits and allowances. And so, withholding such a significant portion of these benefits, which are meant to care for the spouse and family of a service member, inflicts significant financial burden on families that are headed by same-sex couples."
Robinson said DOMA enjoins same-sex families from basic, earned benefits such as healthcare and housing assistance, a fact that hit close to home for Johnson, whose wife, Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson, died last year as a result of a suicide bombing while serving in Afghanistan.
"Although Donna and I were legally married, I was denied the ceremonies, rituals, and spousal survivor's benefits that usually go to widows because Donna and I are both women," Johnson shared, recalling how, at her own wife's funeral, the folded American flag was ceremoniously presented to Donna's mother, because DOMA prohibited Johnson from being listed as the next-of-kin.
The panel was not aware if benefits would be retroactively awarded to spouses such as Johnson were the Supreme Court to strike down DOMA.
It was also unclear if negating DOMA would also negate Titles 10, 32 and 38 of the U.S. Code, which, according to the OutServe-SLDN website, contain language that "bar legally married [LGBT military couples from equal treatment] when it comes to recognition, benefits, and family support."
Currently, both houses of Congress are examining Military Spouses Equal Treatment Acts to address the title issues.
In an ABC News interview that aired the same date of the teleconference, President Obama responded that "gays have historically been discriminated against," questioned the "constitutional muster" of banning same-sex marriage, and hopes "the Court looks at the evidence" for marriage equality.
The week prior, former President Bill Clinton also made an appeal to the Court in a Washington Post editorial. Clinton wrote that when he signed DOMA into law on Sept. 21, 1996:
"I included a statement with the admonition that "enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination." Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned."
