US: Pentagon set to extend benefits to gay service members
Reports suggest that that the Pentagon is to extend some benefits to same-sex partners of gay service members.
Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, is set to extend some benefits, a decision which comes sixteen months after the repeal of the Pentagon’s ban on openly gay service. The final decision on which benefits would be offered was not confirmed.
The reports form the Associated Press said that it was likely that the Pentagon was likely to “allow same-sex partners to have access to the on-base commissary and other military subsidized stores, as well as health and welfare programs.”
Officials also suggested that it was likely that some type of official document would need to be signed, in order to confirm the service member’s partner as a legitimate recipient of the benefits.
The AP reported that the Pentagon Officials giving the information did so anonymously because they were not yet authorised to do so publicly.
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