What Does the Pentagon’s Benefits Announcement Mean?
On Friday, multiple media outlets - Buzzfeed was among the first - reported that the Defense Department will begin to extend benefits to same-sex domestic partners starting September 1, 2013.
The Department of Defense had set a goal of August 31, 2013 for implementing the benefits extension, but did not have firm deadline before October 1, 2013. Now it appears the Department of Defense will implement this extension on the early side of the implementation window. The benefits extension policy was announced on February 11, 2013 by then-Secretary of Defense Panetta after lengthy advocacy by OutServe-SLDN to do so. Secretary Hagel reconfirmed his commitment to extending these benefits in a memo dated April 24, 2013.
For a comprehensive FAQ and explanation of the benefits extension, please see: http://www.outserve-sldn.org/content/pages/3677/
06-10-13 By David McKean, OutServe-SLDN Legal and Policy Director |
