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.
Hagel
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/11/267443