A new Department of Defense policy will make same-sex teaching couples eligible for joint job transfers at Department of Defense schools.
The policy, meant to protect couples from separation during reassignments, was already available to heterosexual married teachers, but an attempt to extend the benefit to gay teachers by the department’s Education Activity, which runs the United States military schools for the children of service members stationed overseas, and two unions representing the teachers in those schools, had been initially rejected by officials at the DOD, who said such an accommodation violated the 1993 Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
“The department supports extending federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal civilian employees, but it must do so consistent with governing federal laws,” said a DoD statement.
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