Battleland

Same-Sex Spouse Standoff Surrender

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Ashley Broadway

Ashley Broadway, left, and Heather Mack

Not 48 hours after Battleland’s piece in the dead-tree version of Time on the same-sex spouse squabble at Fort Bragg hit the street last Thursday, the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses decided to let Ashley Broadway become a full-fledged member.

For those keeping score at home, Broadway is the spouse of Army Lieutenant Colonel Heather Mack, a logistician based at Fort Bragg. When Broadway sought membership in ABOS, the club declined, because she lacked a military ID (which the military denied her, because under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act the military doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages).

After pondering Broadway’s request for a month, and with public pressure building, ABOS sent Broadway an email Friday declaring that “any Spouse of an active duty commissioned or warrant Officer with a valid marriage certificate from any state or district in the United States is eligible for ABOS membership.”

This is one of those spats that seems insignificant, unless you, or your significant other, is involved.