Quote:
Originally Posted by havasu
R/A, care to share your opinion on this?
I personally don't care but then why do we even vote in the first place?
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Well, I have a military background. I knew several closeted homosexuals who served with distinction, and a few who separated involuntarily under DADT. DADT has since been repealed, but DOMA remained in effect.
The military offers numerous financial benefits to married personnel that are not made available to unmarried servicemen. These benefits are essential for the morale of married personnel. They are essential for retention and thus military readiness.
Most of these benefits are simply a matter of access. Military spouses are granted access to base housing. They are afforded commissary and BX/PX/NEX privileges. They are afforded access to Tricare, and military hospitals and clinics. They are afforded access to Morale, Welfare, and Recreation facilities and programs.
Under DOMA, even where their home state recognized a marriage, federal law prohibited these benefits to servicemen in same-sex marriages. This puts a huge burden on the married, same-sex serviceman compared to his heterosexual counterpart. Which would be fine, if there were a clear, compelling, secular purpose for creating that burden. But that purpose doesn't seem to exist.