Hitting Close to Home for Congress

Joe at AMERICAblog highlights the controversy around The Advocate’s story of openly gay Representative Jared Polis whose partner, Marlon Reis, does not automatically receive the benefits that the spouse of a straight member receives.  In addition to having to fight to not be turned away from a trip that Congressional spouses are entitled to, they wanted to charge Reis for the cost of travel for this trip.  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has pushed for same-sex partners to receive the same benefits as spouses without question, but it’s simply not a legal obligation for the Department of Defense to honor that request.

If Polis were from a state that recognizes same-sex marriage, I can’t help but wonder if this would be a case that could challenge the Defense of Marriage Act in the courts in a way that would certainly grab headlines.  Polis v. the United States would be quite the case to watch.