Senator Carl Levin (D-Ma) and US Rep Adam Smith (D-Wa) have written a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel telling him to “issue further guidance” to state National Guard units who have been declining to process benefit applications for homosexuals.

As has been noted elsewhere, until such units are federalized, they operate under the power of the states — their commander in chief is the Governor of the state, not the President.

However, the two Congressmen have instructed Secretary Hagel to tell the National Guard that because they receive Federal funds, they cannot decline to process the applications:

In a Sept. 30 letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Levin and Smith said the new instructions should be “reaffirming that all military couples must be treated equally” and state National Guard units receiving federal funds “cannot choose to ignore this order by denying some lawfully married military couples equal access to federal benefits to which they are entitled.”

To this point, it has been the opinion of certain states that state funded employees processing such applications would be violating their state’s Constitution.  They have not outright denied homosexuals benefits — they have instructed them to apply at the nearest federal facility instead.

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