Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the Pentagon to provide all military spouses and their children the same benefits “regardless of whether they are in same-sex or opposite-sex marriages.”
Conservatives in the US have criticized Pentagonâ„¢s decision to grant full family benefits including marriage leaves of up to 10 days to military gay/lesbian couples who want to get married.
Critics say the move by Pentagon is unusual as same-sex marriage is still barred in 37 states including the entire southern states, where most military installations are based.
Conservatives say that openly homosexual service members, who were barred from serving in the military until two years ago, are receiving special treatments that even heterosexual couples can not enjoy, according to Los Angeles Times.
Heterosexual couples are not granted marriage leaves, which Petere Sprigg, a senior fellow at Family Research Council calls Å“homosexual honeymoons.”
Å“It could well be argued that the new policy actively discriminates against opposite-sex couples, who receive no special leave for their weddings,” Sprigg wrote in a FRC news release on Thursday.
On Wednesday Hagel penned an order to the Defense Department to provide all military spouses and their children the same benefits “regardless of whether they are in same-sex or opposite-sex marriages.”
“It is now the department’s policy to treat all married military personnel equally,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday in a memorandum outlining the new policy.
Under the Hagelâ„¢s new measure, which is backed by all Joint Chiefs of Staff, legally married same-sex couples can qualify for military housing allowances, healthcare, access to base shopping exchanges, extra compensation when a spouse in the military is deployed and unable to live at home, the Pentagon has said.
Critics believe that Obama administration is pushing the military in the center of the gay marriage debate to desensitize people on the issue and push forward an attitude of acceptance toward the new same-sex marriage laws.
“The military is leading the way for social change, in this case in the wrong direction,” said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a policy organization opposed to gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. “Will it have an effect on the civilian world? Yes, but I don’t see that as a good thing.”
The military says the new policy which takes off on September 3rd, is put in place for service members to be able to travel to one of the 13 states, where same-sex marriage is legal.
AN/ARA
Republished from: Press TV