Spouses of gay and lesbian Georgia National Guard members will now be allowed to receive the ID cards needed to access military benefits, officials said this week, leaving just one state left still in defiance of federal orders to extend benefits to same-sex spouses.
Georgia’s concession was limited: The cards will only be available at federally-operated Guard facilities, Reuters reports, as the state continues to cite its constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.
“This process will ensure compliance with the Georgia Constitution while also creating an avenue to federally recognized benefits,” the Georgia Department of Defense said in a statement Tuesday.
Georgia’s action makes Mississippi the sole state still in open defiance of Pentagon directives to extend military benefits to same-sex couples, Reuters reports, following the Supreme Court ruling striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act earlier this year.
(MORE: The National Guard, ‘Separate but equal’ for the 21st century?)
[Reuters]