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Just Noticing: Observations Of A Blogger

Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 24th, 2013

Good morning!

“Just noticing…”

Oklahoma Drops National Guard Benefits For All Couples To Avoid Serving Same-Sex Couples [UPDATED]

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) announced earlier this month that state-owned National Guard facilities will no longer allow any married couples to apply for spousal benefits, regardless of whether they are same-sex or opposite-sex. The Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act means that servicemembers with same-sex spouses are now eligible for federal benefits. Fallin’s unusual tactic is designed to avoid having to recognize those couples, which she asserts would violate Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman:

FALLIN: Oklahoma law is clear. The state of Oklahoma does not recognize same-sex marriages, nor does it confer marriage benefits to same-sex couples.The decision reached today allows the National Guard to obey Oklahoma law without violating federal rules or policies. It protects the integrity of our state constitution and sends a message to the federal government that they cannot simply ignore our laws or the will of the people.

This decision directly contradicts an order from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordering states to provide same-sex couples with the federal benefits they deserve under the law. All married couples will now have to travel to one of the five federal facilities in Oklahoma to apply for benefits. Incidentally, the state’s facilities were built almost entirely with federal funds and 90 percent of the Oklahoma Military Department — which includes the National Guard — is funded by the federal government.

Fallin’s tactic mirrors other attempts to punish an entire group to avoid serving the gay community. When marriage equality came to the District of Columbia, Catholic Charities decided to stop offering partner benefits to all employees to avoid having to provide them to any employee’s same-sex spouse. In various states, Catholic Charities has also abandoned all adoption services to avoid having to provide them to same-sex couples.

Schools have also employed this strategy to try to block gay-straight alliances from forming. In 2011, for example, Flour Bluff Independent School District in Corpus Christi, Texas considered banning all extracurricular clubs to avoid allowing a GSA to form.

Oklahoma is not alone in defying Hagel’s orders. The Texas Military Force acknowledged this week that it will not allow same-sex couples to apply for a housing allowance at state-run National Guard facilities, having already turned away at least one couple. Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia have also refused to comply, but some states that previously had balked have begun complying, like West Virginia. A total of 29 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, but most are complying with the federal recognition for purposes of the National Guard.

Some states are also struggling in other ways with how to handle the federal government’s recognition of same-sex couples in the wake of DOMA. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D)announced last week that same-sex couples could file their state taxes jointly, even though they won’t be eligible for state tax benefits. This has prompted one Missouri state lawmaker, Rep. Nick Marshall (R), to pursue impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Meanwhile, Virginia is among the states that have ordered same-sex couples to file their taxes separately.

UPDATE

Because all of Oklahoma’s National Guard ID-printing machines are now in place and operating on federal properties, the state is technically considered to be in compliance with federal directives. Married couples can only apply for benefits at those federal facilities, and not at any of the state-owned facilities.

UPDATE

Gov. Fallin has tried to distance herself from this story, using social media to say, “To set the record straight – no National Guardsman in Oklahoma is being denied marriage benefits. Stories that suggest otherwise are false.” This is technically true, but those benefits can now only be obtained at federal facilities in Oklahoma, which could require couples to drive extended distances even when there are are state facilities closer by.

*****

Readers: Typical republican. What is the difference between what Fallin is doing as Governor of Oklahoma, and her repub cronies who are trying to make sure Obama fails as a president at the expense of the entire country?

Zen Lill: I would love to talk to you but I won’t be able to today. I’ll check in with you later. I HOPE the showing of your home is going well!

Becca: Thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing the entire documentary.

Stanz: That is horrible. I am glad you were there for your sister. The best thing to happen for this perp is not death, but more prison time. He should not be paroled in 2014, and if he is indeed a serial rapist – HOPEfully more women will come out to testify against him. If so, he deserves to be left in prison and live daily with what he has done to women, have done to him. Payback is a bitch.

Francine: Thanks for posting the additional write.

Rona, Herba, Ele: I had never heard of Alison Botha. And now after reading what I assume is a segment from her book, I will never forget her. I googled her after reading the post and what I read was even more horrific in detail. It is hard to imagine how one can survive such sick brutality. She is one brave girl.

Rona, so sorry you had to endure rape at the hands of your father. I HOPE you are working your way through that.

Sharia: And that is a fine example of women supporting women. NOT. (sigh) It infuriates me too.

Kelly: It is sickening. And more sickening when our society lets perps like these off easy. It tells the male species that what they are doing is not that bad…and hey if you get caught, your punishment won’t be that bad either. Or when society makes excuses for the perps…or worse blames the woman as we have seen so many times. Men do it enough to us – do we need women, such as the comment made by Sharia above, to do the same thing to other women?

What is wrong with these women?

If women can’t put themselves in each others shoes, how can we expect men to? We can’t and I am not relying on the majority of men to do something. We would be waiting until the end of time. If we are going to eliminate rape culture, women have to stick together and do something for each other. What is it going to take?

Marianne: In my opinion, a woman doing that to her own daughter is worse than the father raping her. Unfortunately, Men rape. Unfortunately there are more men who would rape their daughters if they legally could. I am not giving them an excuse simply because they are male. It is just a horrific fact. But a mother choosing to side with a rapist/husband and disowning her own daughter in order to be with the man regardless of whether he is her husband or not, is simply as low and sickening as you can go.

Peace & Love…sending it to all the women who have had to endure any type of abuse. And…HOPEing to encourage women to bring peace and love to each other through unwavering support.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 24th, 2013 at 11:00 am and is filed under Health & Well Being, Human Rights and Equality, Just noticing: Observations of a blogger, Love, Sex & Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

30 Responses to “Just Noticing: Observations Of A Blogger”

Denise Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:48 am
As usual Michelle. you put things in the proper prospective.
Lenord Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:51 am
Just more STUPID PARTY Reps showing their hate to military type personnel. Instead of help all of their National Guard, they took all benefits just because Gay National Guard would get the same benefits as their straight National Guard.

So what the STUPID PARTY Reps in Okla. are doing is telling Gay National Guard that they can lose their lives while on duty, like saving lives during a hurricane or twister or sent to a war zone. Wow. How do Gay Pride vote for the STUPID PARTY Reps, who hate them to the point that they are being used.
David Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:52 am
Time to force these states to pay for their own National Guard.
JW Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:53 am
Fair enough.

I don’t see why DOD and the Army can’t gradually start transferring Ft. Sill based units to other posts around the country. Naturally families would have to follow. In time the place would be a military base without any military.

Why not? The government uses coercion all the time to get states to do what it wants them to do by threatening to withhold funding for projects like highways for example.
Why spend millions of federal dollars in states that insist on discriminating against various groups based on politics and religion?
Bonnie Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:54 am
Lenord, Gay National Guard perform the same work as their straight counterparts. They are taxed the same, too. To deny them the same benefits is clear discrimination.

But maybe there will be an upside to this action; when straight people experience for themselves what discriminatory policies are really like, perhaps things will change.
Bobby Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:55 am
Sounds like equality to me.
Lenord Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:55 am
The sad thing is that they think that they are only hurting Gay Pride National Guards. They have drag all personnel into this hateful crap. The people who are National Guards should be marching to the Govern’s office and tell her to kick rocks. Amazing hateful. The next natural disaster will be interesting in Okla. Wow, STUPID PARTY Reps are such a bigot, racist and hateful bunch of people.
Shirley Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:57 am
Nope, not yet, Bobby. When applied to the whole state, it will be equality.
With this, it is only substituting a disciminatory practice from one subset of OK (the gays) to a different subset of OK (the National Guard).
Maggie Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:58 am
Nice to see the GOP continuing their standard policy of @!$%#ting all over US military personnel.
Shirley Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:58 am
I see lawsuits in the making.

1. They’re denying the benefits that the federal government has said to give.

2. They’re discriminating against National Guard members by denying marriage benefits to the straight people of the National Guard while not denying marriage benefits to the rest of the straight citizens of the state.

Not to mention the possible backlash at the voting booths.

The GOP has used the mantra of the government shouldn’t be in the marriage business, in which case denying benefits to all couples would be an appropriate response. The problem I see here is denying it only to National Guard and other military members and not the whole state is where the issues will arise.
Aaron Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 3:59 am
Right wing bigots gotta be bigots.
Schubert Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:00 am
I think this is great, I really do. They are shooting themselves directly in the foot. Not only are they inviting litigation against them, now they are making enemies of people who may have very well supported the anti-gay stance, or remained ambivalent about it.

Hahaha. This is where hate and bigotry gets people, eventually it starts stepping on the wrong toes
Roy Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:00 am
Now by treating hetereosexual and homosexual couple equally, do they realize that they are treating heterosexual and homosexual couple equally?
Dennis Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:01 am
“Fallin’s unusual tactic is designed to avoid having to recognize those couples, which she asserts would violate Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman.”

Enjoy that while you can, governor, even if the tactic is legally questionable.
The days of state constitutional penis-vagina provisions are numbered.
Steve Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:04 am
This is a good move by Oklahoma’s governor. I like it and it is a step in the right direction in order to end spousal benefits for married gays. One man………….one woman!

That is how marriage should be defined. It is the quintessential tradition that built this nation and made it a superpower to be proud of. Right now, there is nothing to be proud of when married gays are fleecing the system collecting benefits in order to further their nefarious gay agenda.

But for now, heterosexual couples in Oklahoma who are married might have to suffer for a little while in order to prevent married same sex couples from getting spousal benefits until this situation is made right like it used to be. A little sacrifice will be worth it in order to return to those roots of one man and one woman defining traditional marriage.
Fred Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:05 am
Oklafuckinghoma . . . Texas without a coastline.
Maud Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:05 am
Gotta love them Baptists.
When growing up in OKC the baptist would not allow dancing at school proms, burn books and records they considered evil and protested concerts.
Kevin Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:06 am
If you fucking nigger lovers and gay fucks don’t like it, move.
Nate Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:07 am
Man, people sure spend a whole lot of time worrying about making sure the two gay guys down the street who they never interact with can’t enjoy some basic marriage benefits.

Lol, seems like a waste of time for everyone.
Randy Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:08 am
Yeah, Nate, enforcing the law is a waste of time.
Cindy Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:10 am
This is a woman that will be on the wrong side of history when all is said and done.
Silver Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:11 am
This harkens back to the days when the Southern states/local governments were ordered by the Federal government to desegregate their public facilities – such as schools, libraries, recreational centers. Some of these governments responded by closing their public schools, libraries, or swimming pools rather than allow them to be integrated.

How enlightened – so they would cut off their nose to spite their face?
Sally Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:12 am
She is an idiot and exactly what she thinks will come of this is beyond reason. Bigotry knows no bounds.
Scott Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:12 am
The 2013 version of the gay hating religious right affiliated Republican politician is unable to notice their own inevitable extinction. They should be asking themselves how well “Segregation now, segregation tommorrow, segregation forever” worked out.
Donna Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:13 am
Here in Oklahoma we call her “Back Seat Mary”. When she was Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma she destroyed both her marriage and her body guard’s marriage by having an adulteress affair with him.

He was an Oklahoma Highway Patrol sergeant named Greg Allen. When she was running for governor she ran on a “Traditional Oklahoma Family Values” platform.

She will say and do anything to get elected. She could have admitted to sleeping with every OHP trooper, but as long as she wraps herself in the flag and carries a bible, she knows she will be elected by a landslide here in JesusLand.

Her ideal of a traditional marriage is, one man, one woman and one OHP officer….
Owen Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:14 am
Oklahoma is one of the most religious and least educated states, we are down there with Mississippi and West Virginia as far a poverty goes. We are also one of the reddest states.

All she had to do is run her mouth about how much she hated Obama and the next thing you know she is at Dillard’s picking out drapes for the Governor’s Mansion.
Murray Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:15 am
Well it worked out just fine they put on elephant masks and became Republicans! The burning crosses are still the same though. These people really know how to light their FAITH!
Brent Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:16 am
Ah, the unintended consequences.
Ursula Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 4:16 am
The unintended consequence of putting a bigot in a position of power.
Zen Lill Says:
November 25th, 2013 at 7:26 am
#25 Donna, she’s a lot of things, all needing rethinking on her part, but her personal affairs no matter who they’re with is a dumb thing to throw at her. Many men attain positions of power after having affairs and no one cares about that, not really. Too bad her ability to step out of the sexual box doesnt translate into thinking out of the box also, could activate better decision making than running down the bigoted road of ‘let’s just take away all marital rights’ and thinking it somehow levels the playing field. Why is government so caught up in who’s loving who? We all pay scads of tax dollars and why shouldn’t the government worker (or private worker) have the option to get benefits for their significant other when it’s offered to ‘one man & one woman’ couples?
Some states are more knuckle headed than others and this is definitely one at the top of the knuckle head heap.
Luv, Zen Lill

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Just Noticing: Observations Of A Blogger

Oklahoma Drops National Guard Benefits For All Couples To Avoid Serving Same-Sex Couples [UPDATED]

UPDATE

UPDATE

Peace & Love…sending it to all the women who have had to endure any type of abuse. And…HOPEing to encourage women to bring peace and love to each other through unwavering support.

30 Responses to “Just Noticing: Observations Of A Blogger”