ATLANTA (AP) -- The Georgia National Guard has indicated it will continue to ignore federal directives to guarantee certain benefits to same-sex spouses.
U.S. Defense Secretary has chided states, which include Georgia, who have found ways to deny spousal benefits that he Pentagon says should be guaranteed. The federal rules comply with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The Georgia Department of Defense released a statement Friday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ( http://bit.ly/1cu9c8Y ) repeating its position after Hagel sharpened his criticism earlier this week.
The statement says, in full: The State of Georgia does not recognize same sex marriages and is not authorizing the Georgia National Guard to process the applications for same-sex married benefits at state facilities. Any personnel seeking to apply for same-sex married benefits will be referred to federal facilities.
Saturday
July 5th, 2025
4:52AM
