U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) of Pennsylvania voted against an amendment last week that would grant same-sex spouses of veterans equal access to health benefits.
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) introduced the Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act in January. The legislation would allow all legally married same-sex spouses of veterans to receive survivor benefits; current law regulates benefits based on the laws of the couple’s state of residence, not the state where the marriage was performed.
Shaheen offered the legislation as an amendment to the Military Construction Authorization Act, part of an annual military-funding package. But on June 4, Toomey and 41 other senators successfully blocked the bill. Every Democrat, as well as eight Republicans, voted for the bill, but the 53 Senators were seven votes short of the 60 votes needed.
Toomey did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
“It’s tremendously disappointing that the Senate would quietly vote to deny important benefits for those who have served our country in uniform and their families,” Shaheen said in a statement last week. “Veterans served their country bravely, and yet some are deprived of the very rights they risked their lives to protect. The impact of this discrimination is real.”
Shaheen noted that same-sex spouses, and their children, living in states that don’t recognize their marriages are not eligible for medical care from the Veterans Administration; receive less in monthly benefits than heterosexual spouses; and are ineligible for equal death benefits.
“While I am disappointed, I am also resolved to continue fighting to make sure that all veterans get the benefits they’ve earned regardless of who they love or where they live,” Shaheen said.
Toomey’s vote against the bill aligns with his relatively poor record on LGBT rights-related legislation. The Human Rights Campaign scored him 40 out of a possible 100 on its Congressional Scorecard report. He was supportive of ENDA-related measures, but unsupportive of most other pro-LGBT legislation.
Despite the amendment’s failure, there was good news this week on another military front: The Department of Defense announced it will add sexual orientation as a class protected from discrimination in the military’s equal-opportunity policy. It did not, however, extend the policy to include gender identity.
“The inclusion of LGB individuals in the MEO takes us one step further toward making military service a model of equal opportunity,” said OutServe-SLDN interim executive director Matt Thorn.
Thorn called the move a “monumental victory,” but noted the agency will continue to lobby for transgender military inclusion and the addition of gender identity in the MEO.