AMPAUPDATE:
AMPA reports this afternoon that Texas Military Forces refusal to serve same-sex couples was a mistake.
From AMPA:
After intervention today by representatives of AMPA, the Texas Military Forces clarified that three same-sex couples should not have been denied assistance at the federal military identification card enrollment center at Camp Mabry, the headquarters of the Texas Military Forces, in Austin.
All three couples had been turned away on March 13 after being told that they would not be provided service because their marriages were not recognized by the state of Texas. One of the couples was contacted today and given a priority appointment to enroll for their benefits and ID card.
ORIGINAL POST:
Three same-sex military couples were denied assistance by the federal military identification card enrollment center on March 13 at Camp Mabry, the headquarters of the Texas Military Forces, in Austin. All three couples were told by the center’s employee that they would not be provided service because their marriages were not recognized by the state of Texas, regardless of the fact they were seeking federal military benefits.
The American Military Partner Association (AMPA), the nation’s largest organization of LGBT military families, strongly condemned the blatant discrimination in a letter to the Adjutant General of the Texas Military Forces, Major General Berry, outlining the situation that occurred and calling for an immediate investigation and clarification.
In 2013, Camp Mabry was the sight of a similar uproar when Texas Military Forces sent a military spouse with a 3-month-old baby to Fort Hood to register rather than forwarding information to the federal government as they do for opposite-sex spouses. After Texas refused to register spouses, other states followed suit.
That controversy was settled when the federal government threatened to withhold funds and equipment from states that didn’t accept registration information. No state was compelled to offer state benefits.