Feb
3
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Source from LA Times
Tracey Cooper-Harris, a U.S. Army veteran, is suing the federal government. Cooper-Harris claims she and her wife are being denied military benefits that are available to heterosexual married couples.?We?re only asking for the same benefits as other married couples, we simply want the same peace of mind,? Tracey Cooper-Harris, the plaintiff, said at a press conference in Washington announcing the lawsuit.
Cooper-Harris said she was diagnosed in 2010 with multiple sclerosis.
The suit claims that her disease is ?service-connected? and she does get disability compensation for it. But Cooper-Harris says she wants to make sure that after she dies, her spouse, Maggie, whom she married in 2008, is taken care of financially.
She also wants Maggie to be buried next to her in a veterans cemetery. These requests were denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the suit says, because ?spouse? is defined as ?a person of the opposite sex who is a wife or a husband.?
Her application for additional money and benefits that married veterans are entitled to was denied. If the couple were heterosexual they would receive approximately $125 more a month in disability payments as a result of Tracey Cooper-Harris? illness. Maggie Cooper-Harris would be eligible for approximately $1,200 a month in benefits as a surviving spouse after her wife?s death and both would be eligible to be buried together in a veterans? cemetery.
The complaint says even if the VA recognized the marriage, the federal government would not. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed in 1996, bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and says states cannot be forced to recognize such marriages allowed in other states.
Cooper-Harris says she was married in California, where her marriage is legally recognized. They were both married before they banned same-sex marriage in California.
?Tracey shouldn?t have to endure discrimination that belittles her marriage and her service to this country,? said Christine Sun, an attorney for Cooper-Harris.
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Source: http://www.badgesociety.com/news_main/main_page/lesbian-army-veteran-denied-full-military-benefits/
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