Photo: Barack Obama. Credit: Jakub Szymczuk/State Department.
President Barack Obama is seeking to ensure all legally married same-sex couples have access to Social Security benefits, regardless of whether they live in a marriage-equality state. In his proposed budget for fiscal year 2016, Obama calls for the Social Security Act to be amended in order to equalize Social Security spousal benefits for married same-sex couples.
“Currently, if a legally married same-sex couple lives in a State that does not recognize the marriage, these Social Security benefits are unavailable under Federal law,” the proposal states. “This means that for a couple that marries in one State where same-sex marriage is recognized and then moves to another State where it is not, the protection that Social Security spousal benefits provides to families is unavailable. Under this proposal, such married couples would have access to these benefits.”
While numerous agencies and departments across the federal government have moved to broadly implement the Supreme Court’s Windsor decision, striking down the Defense of Marriage Act’s definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, the Social Security Administration has been limited in its implementation. Due to the Obama administration’s legal interpretation of the “place of domicile” rule, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs have been prohibited from adopting a place of celebration rule for certain programs and must instead confer benefits based on the laws of the state where a married same-sex couple lives.
With same-sex marriage now legal in all but 14 states, the Obama administration is seeking to fix that issue. The fix proposed by Obama is similar to legislation introduced in Congress. This past May, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who lost his bid for reelection, introduced the Social Security and Marriage Equality (SAME) Act to amend federal code so as to ensure recognition of all lawfully married same-sex couples, even if they live in a state that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Although Murray praised the fix proposed in Obama’s budget, she told Metro Weekly she still plans to reintroduce the SAME Act in this congress.
“All legally married same-sex couples deserve equal treatment under the law, regardless of their zip code,” Murray said in a statement. “I introduced the Social Security and Marriage Equality Act to ensure all couples have access to Social Security survivor benefits they’ve earned, and I’m pleased the President reflected this priority in his budget proposal. There is still work to be done to ensure that equality does not end at state lines, so I look forward to reintroducing the SAME Act in the 114th Congress.”
Obama’s proposed $4 trillion budget, and the fix to the Social Security Act, must still clear Republican majorities in both houses of Congress to become law. Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court is also expected to rule on whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from banning same-sex marriage.
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, one of several Democrats targeted in Texas's latest gerrymander, says she will seek reelection after a federal three-judge panel blocked a Republican-backed congressional map that would have drawn her out of her Dallas-area district for 2026.
The lesbian congresswoman is one of five Texas Democrats whose districts were reshaped to give Republicans a 2026 edge, and among several Democrats who were effectively drawn out of the seats they currently represent.
In Johnson's case, the proposed map would have stretched her Dallas-based 32nd District into Republican-leaning Rockwall County and rural East Texas, while shifting her hometown of Farmers Branch into GOP Rep. Beth Van Duyne's 24th District, a seat Trump won by 16 points in 2024.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), 213 Democratic U.S. representatives, as well as Delegates Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), and Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández (Puerto Rico), are demanding that Johnson rebuke Republican lawmakers for using "demonizing and dehumanizing" language when speaking about the transgender community.
"We write to you to strongly condemn the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric, including from members of Congress, and to urge you to ensure members of Congress are following rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat any marginalized community, including the transgender community," the Democrats' letter reads.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.