There are some laws in existence that don’t make sense to me and even some that I flat out disagree with, but I understand that it’s my responsibility as an American citizen to follow said laws. After all, if a bunch of people just started to ignore laws they didn’t understand or thought were asinine, chaos would ensue after awhile.
And if this makes sense to me, a mere citizen of the United States, one would think that it’d be a no-brainer for the U.S. government, but …
Well, it’s not.
Connecticut’s Carmen Cardona, an eighteen year Navy Veteran and a lesbian married to her “longtime female partner”, has been denied spousal disability bennies for her wife …
… by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The people who hoot and holler about how policy decisions should be made at the state level, eliminating “big government”, will be happy to know that Connecticut made the choice to allow Carmen Cardona and her wife to get married. It was completely state-sanctioned. They are legally married, simple as that.
And those that get all worked up about the Constitution are probably outraged that a couple is being denied benefits despite being married. After all, if Cardona’s spouse had a penis, disability benefits would have been approved without question.
It’s a fact.
Which is why there is no doubt whatsoever that this is an unconstitutional action, a bigoted mindset, a miscarriage of justice.
Look, whether you agree with gay marriage or not, the state of Connecticut did. Carmen Cardona was allowed to marry her longtime love, and Cardona’s spouse should be entitled to the same benefits as her heterosexual counterparts.
Period.
Cardona, who gave eighteen years of her life to the U.S. military before receiving an honorable discharge in 2000, is appealing the decision, and it looks like this could set some interesting (and long overdue) precedents.
Cardona married her longtime partner in Norwich in 2010. She later applied for spousal benefits from the VA — to which legally married disabled veterans are entitled to — but officials denied the application pursuant to a VA statute that prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
“We could use the help to pay our mortgage, but this is not only about the money,” Cardona’s statement continued. “President Obama is right that [the Defense of Marriage Act] discriminates against gay and lesbian people. There are many other veterans out there just like me. I am standing up and asking to be treated equally in part to let others know they are not alone.”
The thing is, she is absolutely right. It’s just wrong for this degree of discrimination to exist in 2011, and the fact that the perpetrator is the federal government is even more compelling. And disturbing.
Unsurprisingly, no comment has been forthcoming from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“If an appeal is filed, VA lawyers will analyze the legal arguments made by the appellant and respond appropriately in its briefs,” VA spokesman Randy Noller wrote FoxNews.com in an email.
The VA benefits law, which is listed within Title 38 of the U.S. Code, indicates that for purposes of veterans benefits a “spouse” is defined as a “person of the opposite sex who is a wife or husband.” The Board of Veterans Appeals relied upon this law rather than the Defense of Marriage Act in ruling that Cardona’s same-sex partner could not be considered a “spouse” for benefits purposes.
Sofia Nelson, a law student intern at the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, which is assisting Cardona in her case, said denying Cardona and her wife benefits solely because of their sexual orientation “advances no valid government policy.”
Honestly, I think it’s about time that somebody said, “Hell, no, we won’t go” to egregious discrimination that should not be allowed if we are following the tenets of the Constitution.
Your thoughts?
