Washington, D.C. — Today Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act, which would allow same-sex military spouses to access benefits currently unavailable to them due to the Defense of Marriage Act, the law that defines marriage as between one man and woman. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced the House version of the bill yesterday. The Center for American Progress released the following statement from Senior Fellow Lawrence J. Korb:
The Defense of Marriage Act harms our military families and compromises our military readiness. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made clear that there is no room for discrimination in the ranks when he extended a number of benefits to same-sex military spouses earlier this week, and now members of Congress like Rep. Smith and Sens. Gillibrand and Shaheen are adding their voices to the fight for full equality in our country’s armed forces. This is an issue of fairness but—just as importantly—it is an issue of military readiness and it must be addressed promptly.
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