The White House has announced that the
same-sex spouses of military vets are now granted spousal benefits.
The
Supreme Court's rejection of the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA) means that the spouses of vets can collect federal
benefits, regardless of their gender. Prior to this ruling, both the Defense departments and Veterans Affairs only granted benefits to the heterosexual
spouses of veterans.
The
opening up of benefits came on the heels of DOMA’s backers dropping their
formal opposition to benefits for same-sex spouses. The White House has
announced that couples who are legally wed must be treated the same across the
board in terms of federal taxes, regardless of their gender. Same-sex couples
can now file joint tax returns and get any available federal tax benefits that
were previously only enjoyed by opposite-sex spouses.
Changes
to same-sex benefits have also been made to family and medical leave benefits,
immigration and Medicare, and in other
federal agencies. Same-sex couples who are legally married are also now being
recognized for federal tax purposes, says the IRS,
even if the state where they live does not legally recognize their marriage.
In June 2013, the section of DOMA
which barred a federal recognition of same-sex unions was ruled
unconstitutional. But that did not automatically simplify the extension of
veterans’ benefits to spouses; a different federal law governs those benefits, not
DOMA, which limited the benefit availability to spouses “of the opposite sex.” But
in August of this year, a California
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