What You Need to Know about MSET
The Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act (MSET) introduced by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) would bring gay and lesbian service members closer to equal service by providing their spouses with many of the support and benefit programs that their straight married counterparts receive. The Bill accomplishes this by creating a favorable controlling definition of spouse in Titles 10, 32, 37 and 38 of the US Code, which are major sections of the Code governing the military and veterans.
In practical terms, passage of this Bill would provide seventy-seven (77) benefits and support programs to the same-sex spouses of service members. These are all existing statutory benefits currently provided to spouses, but withheld from same-sex spouses by the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Some of these benefits are not well known - like language training for military spouses or the continuation of payments if the military spouse is missing in action. But others are major parts of the military family compensation package. Just to name a few, these include
- TriCare coverage for same-sex spouses
- Increased housing allowances to provide for a family
- Survivor benefits for the spouse if a service member passes away on active duty
For a full list of what the Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act would provide, click here.
In short, the bill would carve out these Titles of the Code from DOMA and allow the military to extend these benefits to all spouses - gay or straight - equally.
07-09-12 By David McKean, SLDN Legal Director |
