This past Wednesday, the Republican Party reaffirmed its commitment to homophobic policy, just in case any of us has forgotten. House Republicans shot down a measure that would extend spousal benefits to gay veterans. The measure included medical care, housing and burial assistance to gay couples even in states where gay marriage has not been legalized.
Introduced by Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.), the measure was attached to the Our Vets Deserve Better Act, a bill by Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) that would set mandatory meetings between secretary of Veterans Affairs and certain health care advisory committees.
The spokesman for Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), who voted against the measure, called it a “common-sense amendment” and said he would “vote for the provision if it comes up as a stand-alone bill, but he wasn’t going to lend his support to a bill that would wrap desperately needed VA reform in bureaucracy…”
Other Republicans argued that federal government lacked the constitutional right to override existing state laws against same-sex marriage. Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) stated, “I believe that it is not appropriate to usurp the states’ power to democratically define marriage for their citizenry – not for personal belief, and not for bureaucratic convenience.” So it seems then that Coffman was mistaken to call this amendment “common sense,” or maybe common sense is just not so common. However, the most likely explanation is that Coffman doesn’t himself believe this is common sense at all.
The American Military Partner Association is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs over this, calling it a “sad reflection on the state of our Congress.”
Republicans at this point are grasping for straws and quickly running out of places to hide their bigotry. What message is the party sending when some don’t vote on a measure because it’s “common sense” and others because it’s a violation of states’ rights? The message they’re sending is this: They do not want to see gay couples being helped to live happy and prosperous lives in the same way that straight couples are, but they do not have any concrete argument to support this. Let’s be real; they just don’t like them.
Veterans benefits are not an issue for states, nor will they be until individual states are employing their own militaries. For Miller to say that the federal government lacks the constitutional right to ensure benefits for gay veterans is to say that perhaps the federal government lacks the constitutional right ensure benefits for any veteran. A veteran from Alabama did not enlist to serve for the state of Alabama, but the United States, and therefore should not be required to suffer the consequences of Alabama’s outdated anti-gay attitude.
The House Republicans’ attitudes toward veterans is inexcusable and sends the message that the respect and esteem we hold for our veterans is dependent on who they are sleeping with.