Recently, a Pentagon auditorium held a standing-room-only event with around 400 uniformed officers present, in which members of the armed forces from a variety of divisions and background came together to share the stories of their service with one another. It was a refined, military-style event through and through, with the one exception being that this was the Pentagon's first-ever celebration of LGBT Pride Month.
Aside from the obvious, one good thing about the DADT repeal that's starting to come out (pardon the pun) in the new, more tolerant Pentagon is the discrepancy between the military's lack of prejudice against homosexuality itself and the continuing denial of spousal benefits for same-sex couples, including those promised in the G.I. Bill, mandated by the federal Defense of Marriage law, which applies to military and civilian marriages alike.
Some in Congress are attempting to devise workarounds involving the definition of "spouse", but not only will such efforts fail to get through the Republican-controlled House, they would only be stopgap measures anyway. Sooner or later the Supreme Court will be forced to rule on same-sex marriage--in a way that takes into account out entire system of marriage licensing and benefits thereof--and every conflict like this one will only serve as one more nail in the coffin of the anti-gay-marriage argument.
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