Army Capt. Steve Hill, left, and Joshua Snyder were
married in Washington, D.C., and are suing for military spousal benefits.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was repealed on Sept. 20.
That allowed a soldier to say this to Republican candidates for president during a debate on Sept. 22: “In 2010, when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was because I’m a gay soldier and I didn’t want to lose my job. My question is: Under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that’s been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”
The questioner was Capt. Steve Hill, 41, of the Near East Side. He spoke on video from Tikrit, Iraq.
Some people in the audience booed him, which became the best-known moment of the debate. But no matter the response, Hill no longer could be thrown out of the Army for saying he is gay.
He does not, however, have all of the rights of a straight soldier, said Joshua Snyder. Hill and Snyder married in Washington, D.C., in May, while Hill was on leave. The District of Columbia and some states recognize the marriage. The U.S. government does not.
Hill and Snyder have joined with seven other same-sex married military couples in suing the government to try to change that. They think that Snyder should be afforded the same benefits as an opposite-sex spouse, including insurance, survivor compensation and acknowledgment that Snyder is a family member.
“This is not for money or for back-paid benefits or anything like that,” said Snyder, 31, a national sales and service supervisor for Key Bank. “We just want to know that the next time he deploys, I’ll be called if something happens.”
Hill is nearing the end of his deployment with the Army Reserve’s 256th Combat Support Hospital and was not available to comment for this story. The two share a house on Columbus’ Near East Side.
The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, said David McKean, legal director of the Washington-based Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and an attorney for Hill and the other plaintiffs. The suit was filed in federal court in Boston, the hometown of one of the plaintiffs.
The act says that whenever a federal law or administrative rule refers to a spouse, it means only an opposite-sex spouse. Military spousal benefits can’t go to same-sex spouses under the law.
The plaintiffs argue that states, not the federal government, have the right to decide what constitutes marriage. They also argue that the act does not treat opposite-sex and same-sex couples the same way, violating the constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
This lawsuit is one of a number challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, which twice has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge but remains in effect while those cases are appealed.
Hill and Snyder’s case puts a different spin on the challenges, McKean said.
“Now, we have the faces of currently serving and retired people from the military,” he said. “ These are people who have signed up for service in a time of war and have taken great personal risk.”
The lawsuit also addresses specific military codes that define marriage as opposite-sex only, and the other lawsuits don’t, McKean said.
What happens now is a bit of a mystery. Officials in the administration of President Barack Obama have announced that they believe that parts of the Defense of Marriage Act are unconstitutional as well and the Department of Justice no longer will defend it.
Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from West Chester, wants the House of Representatives to take on the job of upholding the act if the president will not. Federal courts will decide if that’s possible.
In announcing his intentions in May, Boehner noted that the act had been passed with a bipartisan vote in Congress and signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.
“It is regrettable that the Obama administration has opened this divisive issue at a time when Americans want their leaders to focus on jobs and the challenges facing our economy,” he said.
The lawsuit likely won’t be resolved anytime soon, McKean said. And despite the question to the Republican candidates and the denial of benefits, Hill has been able to serve in the military without any hiccups.
“The Army has been very professional,” Snyder said.
jeb.phillips@dispatch.com
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