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Photo courtesy Tracy Johnson
Donna Johnson, left, and Tracy Johnson at their home in Raeford, N.C., in 2012.
When her spouse was killed in Afghanistan, Tracy Johnson drove across town to her mother-in-law’s house — clutching her marriage certificate — so she could hear the Army’s formal notification. No one from the military came to her door.
She later watched as the American flag that cloaked the coffin of her spouse, Donna Johnson, was offered, not to her, but to Donna Johnson’s mother – the next of kin, as U.S. law stipulates. She was denied death benefits, she said, that are standard issue to heterosexual spouses of service members who die in action: free health care, tuition assistance, and monthly indemnity compensation of about $1,200.
And then there was the ring. On Valentine’s Day 2012, Tracy Johnson placed that band on her wife's finger during their marriage ceremony in Washington, D.C. Last October, as Johnson escorted her wife's body home from Dover Air Force Base, the Army asked Johnson to carry the wedding ring, designated as a “personal effect.” After arriving in Fayetteville, N.C., Johnson was obliged, by a federal statute, to deliver the ring to an Army officer who then provided it to Donna Johnson’s mother who, in turn, gave it back to Tracy Johnson. She wears it on her finger today.
“I’m not considered ‘family’ (by the military). I’m not considered a spouse and I’m damn sure not considered a widow, by definition,” said Johnson, an Army National Guard staff sergeant who served in Iraq. “We didn’t marry for any of those benefits. We married out of love.
“And I’m not standing up here, whining: ‘Woe is me.’ We were adults, big girls, and we knew what we were getting ourselves into. But it doesn’t mean I have to stand idly by and see all this happen to somebody else who’s in a same-sex marriage (in the military).”
Johnson's experiences were mandated by the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. The 1996 law — followed by the Department of Defense and all federal agencies — bars same-sex military spouses from benefits made available to the heterosexual spouses of service members: dental and medical insurance, discounted military housing, and military ID cards, which allow spouses to visit on-base commissaries, child-care facilities and movie theaters.
Under DOMA, military leaders were not allowed to officially acknowledge Johnson, who believes she may be the first same-sex spouse to lose a partner to combat following the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) — the policy that kept gays from openly serving in the armed forces. (Donna Johnson’s mother specifically asked Tracy Johnson to accompany the body home, allowing her a seat on the plane.) The only federal employee who openly referred to the dead soldier as Johnson's “wife,” was President Barack Obama, who sent Johnson a letter of condolence, she said.
On Thursday, Obama's nominee for secretary of defense, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, told congressional members during a confirmation hearing that he is "fully committed ... to doing everything possible under current law to provide equal benefits to the families of all our service members."
Furthermore, during his inauguration address on Jan. 21, Obama spoke broadly of gay rights, saying: "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law."
Battle for equality
For now, current law stipulates that, following the military death of a same-sex spouse, the branches first must notify the “primary next-of-kin” — in Donna Johnson’s case, her parents. If U.S. troops list a same-sex spouse on their emergency-contact forms, that spouse eventually will receive word from the military — after the blood family is told.
“It is not like, though, it’s a day or 'x' number of weeks later. It would be almost immediately,” said Nathan Christensen, a Pentagon spokesman. “They (branch officers) would talk to primary next-of-kin first and relay the information. And then, whoever the (other designated person is), they would call them very soon thereafter. So we’re talking minutes or hours as opposed to days, weeks or months.
“DOMA is still the law we uphold. Even though that (DADT) repeal has been taken care of, there are certain benefits that are not applicable across the force,” Christensen added.
But pressure is mounting on the Pentagon and the White House to change that notification policy — and the other gaps in same-sex spousal benefits — by writing an executive order or a DOD-wide regulation.
Same-sex advocacy groups described the Jan. 25 electionof same-sex wife Ashley Broadway as Fort Bragg’s 2013 “spouse of the year” as a mandate to the military to figure out a way to override DOMA. That same day, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Obama is contemplating how benefits could be administratively extended to the spouses of gay service members, the Washington Blade reported.
'Just like all the other Army wives'
“No military spouse should have to hear second-hand that something has happened to their service member,” said Stephen Peters, president of the American Military Partner Association (AMPA), a Washington, D.C.-based support network for lesbian and gay military families.
"No military spouse should have to watch the flag that is draped over the coffin of his or her service member folded and handed to anyone else,” added Peters, whose husband, Marine Corps Maj. Alasdair Mackay, returned safely in January from a one-year deployment to Afghanistan. “Our families live through the daily fear of worrying about having something happen to their service member while they’re deployed. But we do it without access to the same supports and benefits that other military families get. Our service members, they go to war for our country for equality, yet their families are treated as if they aren’t important, as if they are somehow second class.”
Courtesy of Stephen Peters
Marine Corps Maj. Alasdair Mackay and Stephen Peters were married in New York City during Christmas 2011 before Mackay deployed to Afghanistan.
The AMPA asserts that Tracy Johnson was the first — and only, to date — same-sex spouse to lose a military wife or husband in combat. It's possible, however, that another same-sex spouse suffered that type of tragedy before DADT was rescinded and when members were not open about their sexual orientation — even if they were legally married.
Tracy Johnson was not listed on the emergency notification form that service members fill out, she said. Because DADT had been revoked, Donna Johnson assumed that Tracy would receive the same benefits that are granted to all military spouses — for example, being the first person to be notified by the military should a wife or husband die in combat, Johnson said.
"Donna didn't even realize she had to put me down. She thought I was automatically extended that benefit as her wife — just like all the other Army wives who are the first ones to notified," she said.
'What's right is right'
The point is moot — even if Tracy Johnson was listed, due to DOMA she still would not have been the first person that military officials would have visited in the hours after Donna Johnson was killed.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of DOMA.
Near Fort Bragg, N.C., Johnson holds tight to a fine philosophical line — honoring her wife and the Army while questioning the law. She describes how individual Army members privately treated her “with respect and compassion”, giving her an American flag — though not the same flag atop the coffin — during a private ceremony before Donna Johnson’s funeral. She lauds Donna Johnson’s family for supporting her, insisting that she sit with them in the front row during the memorial service.
But Donna Johnson’s mother, Sandra, is not so charitable with her summary of the events.
“Tracy’s unit supports her, her family supports her, and she was given support by the community itself. Why can’t the federal family be supportive?” Sandra Johnson asked. “I know: It’s the law. But what’s fair is fair. What’s right is right.
“The family is already going through grief. You don’t keep putting a knife in the wound and make it deeper. She’s dead, she’s gone, she can’t be brought back. So why are you treating this family, and treating Tracy, with this indignation?”
Related: Spouses club relents, says lesbian Army wife can be 'full member'
Leave a Comment:
Many people share some outrage on both sides of this story. However, whatever the law states, is the deciding factor, even if you disagree with the outcome(s). Could there be changes coming? Only time will tell...
The law is wrong and good for her for standing up for justice. Eventually, because of her actions and others like her, DOMA will be declared unconstitutional.
D E V I A N T S- GET IT?
H A T E F U L - GET IT?
.
F A I R Y?
N O T M E. Y O U?
You are the person who seems obsessed with deviants. :) Are you looking for a "fairy"? You might want to troll elsewhere to satisfy your sexual needs. :)
It all comes down to the same thing----MONEY. I would have to say the majority of Americans and most other cultures in the world don't condone same sex relationships. This push for equality by gays is not about recognition because they have already shown us with their gay rights parades and their gay rights demonstrations they could care less how others think--they just want the government handouts that hetro's get and they want the same benefits hetro's get. Well guess what? Not everyone is on the same page yet and no matter how much the bleeding heart liberals in this land promise you they will get you these things it hasn't happened yet. Gays, as with all minorities, go about things in very radical ways and draw attention to themselves and scare people just because they are different than the norm. Unfortunately this associates you with groups you hate the most ie. NRA, Tea Party and other groups who can't find an agreeable median with others.
Yet polls show that a majority of americans support gay marriage, for example.
Equal rights..and equal benefits...are coming. Its not a "promise", just an observation of the trend of the population. Each generation is more and more liberal in that way, and there really is no stopping it. The 'cycle of life" is inevitable in this case.
Nothing wrong with wanting equal rights, including equal benefits, that's just capitalism at its best. Isn't that what america is all about..freedom, equal rights, a level playing field?
Vermont guy,
You believe in accurate polls? Hahaha.
yes I do. do you have any proof otherwise? ha ha ha.
Yes we are getting more liberal with each generation. And we are getting more reliant on a government that is going broke because there are more people feeding from it than there are feeding it. People are becoming less energetic and have no initiative or goals because it is just too easy to live off of the government. There is no incentive to achieve because once you become an achiever the liberals hate you and think you should put all of your achievements and wealth into a big fund that they can distribute as they see fit. The United States will never survive this kind of governing.
Yeah, just go to ANY media website and look at the hypocrisy. One news station says Obama has high approval ratings, another says he is dead in the water. One media poll says people approve of "gay marriage" and another says less than 50% approve.
You dont need a source for this. Just go to Yahoo, Google, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS news, Huffington Post, New York Times...you will see entirely different results. With numbers like that...SOMEONE has to be lying.
In your mind, you may want to convince yourself that MSNBC only reports facts to make you feel better. But, vermontguy, they are ALL LIARS!! Go door to door across America and take anonymous polls and see what results you get. I'd bet my bottom dollar you wont see a majority approving of anything homosexual.
so..the reported polls are wrong because YOU say so. lol. you're funny. :)
No, they are wrong because each one of them contradicts the other by a large margin. Do you know what a consensus is?
This is all about the money.
it may or may not be in this specific case. without being able to read her mind, you don't know.
Of course, in capitalistic america, most things are "all about the money".
Marriage in itself is discrminatory against my athiest beliefs. I personally have no desire to get married under the traditions and oath as defined under God. There is no other way to get married in the eyes of the law.
So, should we fight for benefits for athiests too? I cant put my girlfriend on my insurance, nor could she relocate with me on a paid move or PCS during military because she wasnt my "wife".
What are you talking about? you can get legally married without any "traditions and oath" defined under god. Just go to the local town hall, fill out the form, pay the fee, and a secular JP can sign them for you.
Yes you can. But, the basis of marriage is still defined by God. Justice of the Peace still lists God on the oath, til death do you part, and God is listed on the certificate as well.
That is ridiculous with the large community of atheists there must be someone who can marry you. And I am somewhat confused about atheists. I thought your whole agenda was you had no beliefs especially in one God but it sounds like you do have beliefs. What are they? Not being rude just wondering for a group who claims in having no beliefs how can you have beliefs about getting married? Obviously more than 50% of religious marriages go down the tube so I guess they really don't believe in marriage either but they got married and had all the benefits of a married couple.
Rob,
marriage existed before any religion had any part in it. your god didn't author it, or invent it or anything. your religion did hijack it for further control over its sheeple but that's it.
www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/history_of_marriage_in_western.html
the basis of legal marriage is defined by the gov't, not god. You're confused.
can you point out this requirement to reference god in "the oath" and on the certificate? Its not on my state forms, for example.
vermontguy,
Are you truly as misguided as you appear? Let's see, Justice of the Peace was founded based on religious law. Religion WAS the "law" for centuries.
Any person who assumes a position of Justice of the Peace takes an oath "so help me God" when they take office. The judicial system is based on religion.
EVERYTHING about Justice of the Peace was founded on religion and God. Everything about our "gov't" was also founded on religion. Did you sleep through history class?
i'm not "misguided", i'm right. You can get married with no reference to god.
marriage may have STARTED as a religious event, but its now a secular one, if you want it to be.
legal, secular marriage has nothing to do with god.
you're misguided. :)
Typical liberal approach. Pick and choose which details benefit you and disregard the rest as discriminating, hateful and expendable. If only life were that easy. Wow, I'd have it made.
Are you religious vermontguy?
That is a completely false and ignorant statement.
Just repeal DOMA and get it over with.
Vermont guy is confused,he doesnt know what he (it) believes in.
you're stupid, I know exactly what I believe in..equal rights for all law abiding americans. :)
WOW!!! Just think, perverts are now after my TAX dollars. Is/are my grandchildren on your next - "TO GET" list???
just like straight married couples are after your tax dollars apparently.
and no, adult homosexuals aren't after your grandchildren. They are more likely to be molested by someone in your own family, or one of your friends. Try to pay attention.
.
Ed is every opposite gender widow "after your tax dollars"?
And so it starts, the "claims", the lawsuits, and the usual liberal garbage of making if FRONT page news.
Sorry, the military does NOT recognize homosexual marraige yet, so this indidvidual has NO claim to anything.
What the military did was CORRECT and according to regulation and FEDERAL LAW.
What this Sergeant and MSDNC are doing is nothing more than attempting to again demand that the military become another social experiment for society instead of an effective line of defense against our enemies.
Ironic that the military is glad to have these people fight and, sadly, die for their country but they won't permit them to be who they are outside of their obligations to the service.
The military's actions may well be legal and by all regulations but it is morally hypocritical and reprehensible.
its "front page news" because it gets haters like you here to post, cheryl, and makes more money for them. lol.
and the lawsuits are already in place, which is why SCOTUS is ruling on DOMA this year. That's the way our country works, for both gays and straights. Don't like it? move to iran. :)
Mark first of all you say is glad to have thesepeople fight. When I went into the service I don't really remember any questions regarding sexual preference as a requirement to either be denied or accepted. So what really is happening is that yes the military will allow you to serve, and apparently now even admitted gays can serve, but they still have not changed their stance on what marriage is as well as the federal government not changing. Because obama and a bunch of bleeding heart liberals want to say it and make promises regarding it does not make it so. Outside and even inside the military now you can be who you want to be without your person being discriminated against but marriage is still a government legal issue which has not been resolved.
I just don't get the left. Worried about the rights of everybody while supporting the murder of thousands of unborn babies each and everyday.
maybe "the left" doesn't consider abortion to be murder?
No one on the left supports abortion. They do however support the right to an abortion.
Dumbest thing I ever heard Mark. There is no distinction here. If you support the right, you must support the act.
or maybe it isn't murder, but it makes people like you feel good and morally superior.
vik, there are a lot of things I don't support but I do support the Constitution, so I recognize them as legal nonetheless.
or maybe it isn't murder. Lets see how that works.
see, we can go around and around around, unless you can prove it is? :)
I really fill sorry for both of them.
Dearest HARRY and CATHY Please BE PROUD that you have hearts, a brain, compassion, thoughtfulness, intelligence, patience, kindness, friendliness, pride, intuition, calm, rational thought patterns, acceptance, forethought, bravery, light and LOVE! How dare these CRETINS treat a fellow human being (a soldier no less) with such disdain. Its SHAMEFUL. How do they sleep at night let alone breath the same air?. I MUST TELL YOU that PEOPLE LIKE YOU HARRY and CATHY MAKE ME PROUD TO DEFEND YOUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOM! I will always be happy and determined to give the ultimate sacrifice for individuals as yourselves, and obviously havent a choice in the matter to give the same to these shameful non-persons.
I have no gay brothers or lesbian sisters, and if I did I would be ashamed of them. These freaks need to stop trying to push their beliefs on the rest of the world. Before anybody goes and starts saying that I was not in the military and that I really have no say in this, wrong, I was in the military (Ft. Lee). These two carpet munchers knew what the rules were and are, so even though she says she ain't whining she actually is. Why can't we just put all of these freaks on an island and then just let them disappear into extinction? We all know that is exactly what would happen to them, because they would be unable to reproduce, why, because they are going against God's laws. People need to stop making excuses for them, that is why this world is headed for hell in a handbasket.
i'm ashamed of your post as an american. Immature and hateful and ignorant and denying fredom to others.
Maybe, like a Rosa Parks, they knew the rules but they decided to demonstrate just how unfair those rules are.
hello
hi!
This is getting to be a joke.
ha!
I know it is Tony
Hard to beleive that in 2013 some Americans still use religion to discriminate.
This just proves what we've been saying all along. It isn't about the "love and commitment", it's about the freebies. It's all about the money. Stoopid libtards - admit it.
one example proves nothing of the sort, no more than one example of a GOP lt governor cheating on his wife "proves" that all republicans are cheating scum.
stoopid catlover..admit it.
Aww, vermontgay, are you following me? HAHAHAHA Stoopid libtard.
I have read the article...nothing there that we all haven't heard before. Except...where do heterosexuals get that marriage needs to be protected by an act of Congress? And protected for whom? Men and women that take that giant step with little or no concept of what marriage is. Thousands of us rip marriage into a million pieces every day, but we can't allow gays to marry?
I have read NONE of the comments here. I know what most add up to...bigotry and hatred hidden behind the scriptures of the Bible. Just relax people...no one wants your marriage vows...they want their own.
There will soon be a day where the gays and lesbians will have their sex-change operations paid for by the military and therefore by the American taxpayer.
Chat, most gay and lesbians never have sex change operations. They are happy with the gender that they were born as.
You apparently fail to understand that being gay is different than being transgendered among many other things like civil rights.
there will soon be a day when ignorance and hate about gays and lesbians is gone, but based on people like chat, its gonna be awhile...
We're almost there, Chat. We already have courts saying the prison system must pay for sex changes for inmates. Of course, if I was in prison, I would want to be changed, too. Then I could go to the women's prison and be a lesbian. Better than suffering at the men's prison. And don't you just love how the libtards are incapable of making any argument that doesn't have a central them of insults and name-calling? Stoopid libtards.
DOMA was enacted by Congress and signed into law by Bill Clinton. "Lesbian widow" is a legal oxymoron.
and bob is just a moron..
well, legally it may be. Of course, since this isn't a courtroom, who cares? its clear what is meant. Feel free to argue about nuances of meaning all you want. :)
This attack brought to you by the party that coined the term "unborn baby".
I guess you missed the part about "signed into law by Bill Clinton".
An earlier person hit the nail on the head. Quit trying to push for marriage. Create a seperate civil union for you gays. If you do that, i have no problem with you recieving benefits. Keep trying to intrude on the sanctity of marriage and i won't give a damn about your rights and benefits. The homo community will say 'well that is not equal rights''. Well, i don't give a damn. Take your civil union and shat up! You're lucky it's allowed to go that far.
"well I don't give a damn". that's the problem isn't it? You're not a patriotic american who believes all americans should have equal rights, and that's a shame.
why do YOU own "marriage"? How would allowing gays to have SECULAR, LEGAL equal rights have anything to do with the "sanctity" of marriage?
There is no "sanctity of marriage" anymore! People marry for sex, money, fear of being alone, health care benefits, blah blah blah...There is little religious context in today's society when it comes to marriage. You don't have to be wed in a church, nor do you need their blessings. And not everyone who marries does so in the name of procreation! This ideology is so outdated and can no longer be used as a justified argument.
in this case, they don't have equal rights. If they pushed for civil unions before instead of marriage, all of this may have been a non-issue.
Hetero's have owned marriage and always should. Sorry but life isn't fair and everything cannot be made to be equal. Take the civil union.
ohwell,
its already been ruled that separate is not equal, or did that escape you ?
NOBODY owns marriage, not heterosexuals, nor any religions or anything. absolutely nobody owns marriage. and if you'd like to go on traditional marriage, then we can erase the mixed race marriages (they weren't always or traditionally legal) and the mixed religion marriages (it was only permitted for someone to marry someone of their own religion and that's it) and women are solely property with no rights whatsoever.. there's much more .. is this the route you'd like to go ?
Quit trying to push for gay marriage? LOL, it's the law in 9 states already. Seems like that push is working.
Sanctity of marriage? How sanctified is it when over 50% lead to divorce?
I'm all for the equal rights of your married and or domestic partners, but the one big problem is that they, or the one assumed that the other would be notified and taken care of...now I'm really sorry that she was killed in action protecting our rights and serving our country, but the one thing we all need to know, is never ASSUME, dot your i's, cross your t's and always CYA (cover your a$$)!!!