Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell officially died yesterday, allowing tens of thousands of gay and lesbian troops on active duty to stop hiding their sexual orientation. The latest Military Times reader survey indicated growing acceptance for allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. While that survey does not use random sampling methods, its findings mirror many polls that have shown dwindling support for the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

Now that enlisted men and women can stop hiding same-sex relationships, future legal battles over partner and spousal military benefits appear inevitable.  

No one knows how many gays and lesbians currently serve in U.S. armed forces; this week I’ve seen estimates in the range of 49,000 to 65,000 people. Many of those troops will marry their partners in one of the states that recognizes same-sex marriages. Navy Lt. Gary Ross and his husband Dan Swezy traveled from their home in Arizona to Vermont so that they could be married just after midnight on Tuesday. But the new couple won’t enjoy all of the benefits of marriage:

There will be no immediate changes to eligibility for military benefits. All service members are already entitled to certain benefits, such as designating a partner as a life insurance beneficiary or as a caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program. But Swezy won’t receive military health insurance or access to a support group when Ross is at sea.

Gay marriage is an even thornier issue. A Navy proposal to train chaplains to conduct same-sex civil unions in states where they are legal was shelved earlier this year after more than five dozen lawmakers objected. The Pentagon is reviewing the issue.

This article from July describes some of the other problems coming down the pike:

The Pentagon says the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act – which defines marriage for federal program purposes as a legal union between a man and woman – prohibits the Defense Department from extending those benefits to gay couples, even if they are married legally in certain states.

That means housing allowances and off-base living space for gay service members with partners could be decided as if they were living alone. Base transfers would not take into account their spouses. If two gay service members are married to each other they may be transferred to two different states or regions of the world. For heterosexual couples, the military tries to avoid that from happening.

Gay activists and even some commanders say the discrepancy will create a two-tier system in an institution built on uniformity. […]

Same-sex partners can be listed as the person to be notified in case a service member is killed, injured, or missing, but current regulations prevent anyone other than immediate family – not same-sex spouses – from learning the details of the death. Same-sex spouses also will not be eligible for travel allowances to attend repatriation ceremonies if their military spouses are killed in action.

Gay spouses also will be denied military ID cards. That means they will not be allowed on bases unless they are accompanied by a service member and they cannot shop at commissaries or exchanges that have reduced prices for groceries and clothing, nor can they be treated at military medical facilities. They also will be excluded from base programs providing recreation and other such kinds of support.

Military officials say some hardship cases may be handled on an individual basis. Activists warn such an approach will create an administrative nightmare and leave the military vulnerable to accusations of making inconsistent decisions that favor some and not others.

Lawsuits challenging the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act are pending, but I do not expect the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages. That means likely future litigation on benefits for the spouses of active-duty soldiers or veterans who were legally married in Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, or Washington, DC.

Any thoughts about the end of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell era are welcome in this thread. Getting Congress to sign off on letting this policy go is one of the few good things that came out of President Barack Obama’s December 2010 deal with Republicans on extending the Bush tax cuts.