The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) became a policy maker for same sex marriage (SSM) in 2015. In a split 5-4 decision in Obergefell v Hodges, SCOTUS ruled that the remaining sections of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which gave states the choice to honor or perform SSMs, were unconstitutional. Obergefell followed Windsor v USA, which granted federal recognition of marriage for couples regardless of their sex.
Before 1996, a marriage performed in one state was honored throughout the other US states, thanks to the US Constitution. After DOMA became law, it restricted same sex couples from marriage by not recognizing those relationships at the federal and state level. The view of same sex couples as deviant and appalling by lawmakers ensured denial of benefits and protections only available through marriage. DOMA was thought to be a good compromise by providing states the autonomy to define marriage as they wished while keeping the traditional definition of marriage for federal benefits. It also provided a means to preemptively limit policy diffusion of SSM from Hawaii to the rest of the country.
The SCOTUS decisions followed another policy change regarding the gay and lesbian community called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). In 2010, the repeal of DADT, which barred gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military, came after careful review of its effects on military readiness, values, morale, and feedback from those impacted by the policy. A major key in policy change on these issues involved revising the narrative of how gays and lesbians were viewed by lawmakers and the general population. Showing the similarities between this community and the rest of the US population in raising families, community service, and other aspects of daily life was thought to enable this group and their families to benefits and protections against discrimination. This narrative played a role in my personal involvement of sharing my story in both policy changes for the gay and lesbian community as a disabled Army veteran with over nine years of honorable service.
In 2012, my wife & I filed a federal lawsuit with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for denial of benefits normally granted to veterans for their spouses. The VA denied our claim, even though our marriage was recognized by our resident state of California. Our federal lawsuit charged the VA discriminated against us by denying these benefits while granting them to spouses in heterosexual marriages. Cooper-Harris v USA resulted in a historic ruling in 2013 that declared sections of Title 38 of the US Code unconstitutional. This statute prevented the VA from granting marital benefits to same sex spouses of veterans. The US Federal Court’s decision in our case was the first to declare that veterans benefits must be provided to a married veteran regardless of the spouse’s sex.
As time goes on, I believe that anti-discrimination and protection policies for the gay, lesbian and transgender community will follow the same path as policy issues on discrimination based on race and sex. Legislation and court decisions to eliminate discrimination doesn’t necessarily change hearts and minds of those who view race or sex negatively. I believe that our roles as master administrators provide us with the opportunity to ensure that equity for our communities.