At least as recently as 2005, new Army recruits watched videos instructing them, "Do not attempt a gay marriage." But in a sign of progress on Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would no longer defend in court legislation that forbids giving benefits to the legal spouses of gay military members. In a letter to Congress, Talking Points Memo's Ryan J. Reilly reports, Holder said the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment. A year ago, the administration said it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, but legally married gay military couples still couldn't get benefits.

Earlier this week, Stars and Stripes wrote of Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, who has breast cancer and worried that the military wouldn't take care of her widow, even though it would continue to provide health care for the couple's daughter. 

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Elspeth Reeve