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Military same-sex couples to get full benefits

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San Francisco City Hall is lit up in rainbow colors the night before the city’s gay pride parade.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Jessica Hand, center, celebrates with her wife Jenna Melili during a marriage ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco on Saturday. Hand bought the wedding dress for $50 at a thrift store.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Jessica Hand, in the wedding dress, and her wife, Jenna Melili, enjoy a cruise in San Francisco Bay on Saturday after getting married earlier in the day.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Army Sgt. Michael Potoczniak and Todd Saunders, left; and Cynthia Wides, in the veil, and Elizabeth Carey wait to get married at City Hall in San Francisco on Saturday  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Dave Martinez, in blue, hugs his new husband Kenny during a marriage ceremony at San Francisco’s City Hall on Saturday  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Army Sgt. Michael Potoczniak and Todd Saunders have a witness sign their marriage license at City Hall in San Francisco Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Elizabeth Carey, left, and Cyntia Wides embrace as Army Sgt. Michael Potoczniak and his partner Todd Saunders wait patiently in line to get married at City Hall in San Francisco on Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Cynthia Wides, left, and and Elizabeth Carey of Oakland walk out of City Hall a married couple Saturday in San Francisco.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Army Sgt. Michael Potoczniak and his partner Todd Saunders exchange rings during a marriage ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco Saturday.   (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Army Sgt. Michael Potoczniak kisses his partner Todd Saunders as they stand in line to get their marriage license at City Hall in San Francisco Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Rachael Hadley left, and her new wife Kim celebrate with their children Sidney, left, and Phin at City Hall while getting married Saturday in San Francisco.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple who have been together for 33 years sign documents to get married at City Hall in San Francisco Saturday  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Brandie Yelland, left, hugs friend Erika Lewis in support of her marriage outside City Hall in San Francisco Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple show off their wedding rings after getting married at City Hall in San Francisco Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple hug during a marriage ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Cal Joy, center, and Olga Yip join hands in marriage as their daughter, Sasha Yip, 6, observes in San Francisco City Hall on Saturday. “It’s almost indescribable how it feels for us to be able to do this when for so long we felt like it was an unreachable goal,” Joy said.   (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)
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Adrian Coleman, front, dances with Matt Ferrer on Saturday in the United Nations Plaza in downtown San Francisco, where gay rights supporters celebrated the resumption of same-sex weddings in California.  (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)
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Ashlee and Ky Meyer-Choi touch noses after getting married in San Francisco City Hall on Saturday. “We’ve overcome a lot of struggles to be together, so to see all the support and love is something we haven’t experienced,” Ky said.  (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)
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Barb and Heather Miller-Webb kiss on the steps outside City Hall after being married Saturday.  (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)
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George Lucas, left, and Tom Rothgiesser, both 79, who met in Johannesburg, South Africa, and have been dating for 50 years, got married in San Francisco on Saturday.  (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)
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Newlyweds Carey Myslewski, left, and Katy Yan walk out of City Hall on Saturday.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Jeff Zarrillo, left, and Paul Katami are married by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles after the 9th Circuit Court lifted the stay on same-sex marriage in California.  (Christina House / For the Times)
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Jeff Zarrillo, left, and Paul Katami speak to the media immediately after their wedding ceremony by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles.  (Christina House / For the Times)
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Alan Tekerlek, left, and K.C. Bugg celebrate in the crowd as their friends Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami are married by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.  (Christina House / For the Times)
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Supporters applaud as Sandy Stier, second from right, and Kris Perry prepare to get married at San Francisco City Hall by California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris. Gov. Jerry Brown ordered all counties in the state to begin issuing licenses immediately after the 9th Circuit Court ruling.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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Sandy Stier, left, and Kris Perry kiss their son, Elliot Perry, after they were married at San Francisco City Hall.  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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Joe Varnell, left, and Kevin Bourassa, who became Canada’s first legally married gay couple in 2001, welcome the court’s decision at a Toronto bar.  (J.P. Moczulski / AP)
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Hundreds of gay rights supporters gathered in West Hollywood on Wednesday to celebrate the Supreme Court rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Carlos Jimenez, left, and Mike Dardenelle of the San Fernando Valley kiss during a gathering on San Vicente Boulevard celebrating the Supreme Court decision Wednesday affirming a lower court’s ruling that declared Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, unconstitutional. Jimenez and Dardenelle, who met online, have been dating for 15 years and plan to get married as soon as possible.  (Susannah Kay / Los Angeles Times)
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Rainbow flags and flags of equality are raised in West Hollywood.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Vincent Cervantes, left, and his partner, Vince Pancucci, embrace during a rally in West Hollywood after the Supreme Court’s ruling against Proposition 8.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Kirsty Hood, 24, left, kisses Nora Tavitian, 23, at the Equality California offices in West Hollywood as a crowd celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s long-awaited decision on Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Wednesday morning.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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A crowd gathered at the Equality California offices in West Hollywood cheers the Supreme Court’s decision on Proposition 8.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Brandon Benoit, center, hugs Martha Acevedo, left and Briana J. Castaneda during the celebration at the Equality California offices in West Hollywood.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Partners Alicia Guajardo, left, and Isabella Restrepo of Sylmar join the celebration at the Equality California offices in West Hollywood.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Gay marriage supporters prompt motorists to honk their horns as they pass Equality California offices in West Hollywood to join in the merriment after the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on Proposition 8.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Gay marriage supporters celebrate outside the Equality California offices in West Hollywood after Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the sponsors of California’s controversial Proposition 8 did not have the legal standing to appeal a 2010 ruling against the measure.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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From right, David Cooley, Brandon Brown, Colby Melvin, Cory Leech and Wildran Quesada celebrate the Supreme Court decision to strike down a key part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Brandon Brown, 28, left, and Colby Melvin, 25, hug as as they celebrate the Supreme Court decision to strike down a key part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Brandon Brown, 28, left, gets a piece of cake from Colby Melvin, 25, as they celebrate the Supreme Court decision to strike down a key part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Robin Tyler tears up as she looks at her partner Diane Olsen during a press conference at attorney Gloria Allred’s office in Los Angeles, where they discussed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage cases. They were the first in California in 2004 to announce that they would file a lawsuit challenging the ban on same-sex marriage in California.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
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The plaintiffs’ team in Hollingsworth vs. Perry, the California Proposition 8 case, celebrate on the steps of the Supreme Court after Wednesday’s ruling was handed down. From left are Jeff Zarrillo, his partner, Paul Katami, attorney David Boies, Sandy Stier and her partner, Kris Perry.  (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
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Elana Kessler, left, is embraced by friend Hannah Greenberg as she speaks by phone with her mother on the steps of the Supreme Court after the court issued its rulings in two same-sex marriage cases.  (Win McNamee / Getty Images)
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Gay rights activists react outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington after the ruling on California’s Proposition 8.  (Mladen Antonov / AFP/Getty Images)
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Plaintiffs Kristen Perry and Sandy Stier, left, and Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami arrive at the Supreme Court Wednesday morning to hear the high court’s ruling on California’s Proposition 8, which forbids on same-sex marriage.  (Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)
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Members of the public wait in line to enter the Supreme Court to hear their rulings on two same-sex marriage cases.  (Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)
By David S. Cloud
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WASHINGTON — Same-sex military couples will qualify for full benefits, including government-provided healthcare and housing allowances, as long as they are legally married, under new rules announced by the Pentagon.

The requirement for same-sex couples to be married is a shift for the Pentagon, which in February announced that full benefits would be provided to members of the military and same-sex spouses if they attested they were in a “committed relationship.”

But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that finding a way for unmarried, long-term couples to qualify for benefits “is no longer necessary,” since a Supreme Court ruling in June struck down a federal law that barred married same-sex couples from obtaining federal benefits.

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DOCUMENT: Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling

In addition to healthcare and housing benefits, the new policy will allow same-sex couples to qualify for extra compensation when a spouse in the military is deployed and unable to live at home. It will also enable spouses of same-sex couples access to base facilities, including post exchanges.

Hagel said in a memo that the requirement that same-sex couples be married was backed unanimously by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In theory, it will make it harder to qualify for benefits for military couples stationed in one of the 37 states where same-sex marriage is illegal.

But service members who are stationed in those states will be offered special leave so they can travel to one of the 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, that grant same-sex marriage licenses, the memo said.

“We recognize that same-sex military couples who are not stationed in a jurisdiction that permits same-sex marriage would have to travel to another jurisdiction to marry. That is why the department will implement policies to allow military personnel in such a relationship… leave for the purpose of traveling to a jurisdiction where such a marriage may occur,” it said.

Highlights from the DOMA decision

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The benefit payments are retroactive to June 26, 2013, the date of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act.

“The extension of equal benefits for all legally married spouses, regardless of sexual orientation, is a huge step forward for our families who for far too long have been excluded and cut off from support,” said Stephen Peters, president of American Military Partner Assn., a group representing same-sex military couples.

“While this is a huge step forward in making sure our same-sex military spouses have equal access, we still have a long battle ahead of us in making sure all of our LGBT military families have equal protection in all 50 states,” he added.

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World & Nation
David S. Cloud

David S. Cloud covered the Pentagon, the military and other national issues from the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Los Angeles Times. In his 30-year career, he has also worked at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, where he was a member of a team of reporters awarded a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks. He is co-author of “The Fourth Star,” which traces the careers and experiences in Iraq of four U.S. officers.

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