Biden Expands Veteran Benefits For Same-Sex Spouses

In a major policy change from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), certain same-sex spouses of veterans will now qualify for survivor benefits.

The VA requires couples to have been married for at least a year for surviving spouses to qualify for survivor benefits; eight years for a higher rate of benefits. This policy change was announced last week.

Previously, many surviving spouses of LGBTQ+ veterans did not meet requirements, due to bans on same-sex marriages prior to the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in the US. According to the VA, “This wrongly precluded many survivors of those LGBTQ+ Veterans from becoming eligible for survivor benefits because their Veteran spouse died before the marriage met VA’s length-of-marriage requirements.”

LGBTQ Nation writes that under the new policy the VA will now count the duration of those same-sex marriages from the point at which the surviving spouse can establish a “marriage-type” relationship. Commitment ceremonies, joint banking accounts, or joint purchase of a home all qualify as proof of a “marriage-type” relationship.

According to Military.com, anyone who applies within the next year will get benefits backdated to October 11, 2022, but the benefits are not retroactive beyond that.

“VA is closing a gap in benefits for surviving spouses of LGBTQ+ Veterans, righting a wrong that is a legacy of the discriminatory federal ban on same-sex marriages,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said in the announcement. “It is VA’s mission to serve all veterans – including LGTBQ+ veterans – as well as they’ve served our country, and this decision is a key part of that effort.”

In July, 41 senate Democrats sent a letter to McDonough calling on the VA to ensure that same-sex spouses would be eligible for survivor benefits.

“It’s unacceptable to me that surviving partners of veterans have been denied the VA care, benefits, and services they deserve because they did not have the right to marry,” Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) said in a statement following the announcement of the policy change. “I’ve been fighting for years to tear down barriers like these for our veterans, and I’m glad VA took this important step – but our work is not done.”

Lawyers for Larry Vilord, who appealed to the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims last year after being denied enhanced survivor benefits given to those married at least eight years, said that the VA’s announcement left open questions and that the lack of retroactivity leaves out same-sex survivors who were never legally married.

“We are particularly concerned about LGBTQ+ survivors establishing ‘marriage-like’ relationships if they were never allowed to marry in the first place,” said Harvard Law School’s Veterans Legal Clinic staff attorney Peter Perkowski.

Last week’s policy change follows the VA’s announcement last year that veterans given other-than-honorable discharges due to their sexual orientation under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" would be eligible to receive full benefits.

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