Tag Archives: spouse

Aviano Starts Gender-Specific Spouse Group

While “spouse groups” in the Air Force are technically gender-neutral, the fact remains they are often perceived as re-labeled “wives groups.” They are made up almost exclusively of women who are married to male military members. That leaves male spouses as a potentially underserved minority.

A male spouse at Aviano experienced the results of that long “history”:

Spouses are often assumed to be women and at a commander’s convention with his wife, Lt. Col. Rosie Duarte, the 31st Force Support Squadron commander, there was no exception. When spouses received their gift at the end of the event, [John] Duarte got what every spouse did — a broach.

Duarte decided to found a new group — which is explicitly male. He Read more

Military Spouse of the Year: Devout Christian, Homosexual

Ashley Broadway, the homosexual who complained about being denied membership in a Fort Bragg spouses’ group, has been named the “spouse of the year” for Fort Bragg in a popular vote called the Spouse of the Year program.

In the online election held Tuesday, Ashley Broadway captured the Fort Bragg vote “by a country mile,” said Babette Maxwell, founder of Military Spouse magazine and the Military Spouse of the Year award. Ballot totals were not revealed. As one of the 154 base-level winners, Broadway now is eligible to be nominated for Army “spouse of the year.”

As the “spouse of the year program” is a private operation, Read more

Pentagon Backs Army Spouse Club on Homosexuals

According to Buzzfeed, the Pentagon has supported Fort Bragg’s stance that an Army spouse group is not required to accept homosexuals:

Pentagon spokesman Nathan Christensen explained the current policy to BuzzFeed: “When [a private group] asks for authority to operate on a base, it must comply with all applicable DOD instructions and directives and laws, in this case [Department of Defense Instruction] 1000.15.”…

A Pentagon spokesman added late Tuesday that the Department of Defense “neither drafts, executes nor exercises control over the Club or its governing documents. Private organizations who adhere to the criteria outlined in applicable instructions are allowed base access.”

Technically, the Pentagon isn’t backing the group — they’re backing the law.  Since neither federal law nor military regulations require special accommodation based on sexual preference, neither does the Army.

If that’s the official Pentagon interpretation, though, it may leave some Marine lawyers in an awkward position.

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Homosexual Denied Membership in Army Spouse’s Club

Update: The Fort Bragg spouse group says some of the public accusations against them are “misrepresented.”

A homosexual woman lodged a public complaint after being denied membership in Fort Bragg’s “Association of Officers’ Spouses.”

[Ashley] Broadway said the social group — which is not an official military organization — told her she could not join because while she has a marriage certificate, she doesn’t have a military spouse ID…

Broadway says the clause about the ID card was added after she was denied, in what she believes was an effort to exclude same-sex spouses.

Broadway has indicated that she “has a case…because the group violated their by-laws.”  Notably, that hinges on the definition of the word spouse.   Federally, homosexuals are not recognized as “married.”  In North Carolina, which is where Fort Bragg is located, the state Constitution defines marriage as a man and woman.  In that regard, Broadway’s argument fails because she isn’t a “spouse,” though that may still depend on one’s political leanings.

Conveniently, Broadway works for the American Military Partner Association — which, just coincidentally, is a homosexual advocacy group focused on obtaining benefits for homosexual partners of military members.

Naturally, her group publicized the decision and condemned it:  Read more

Military Wives Find Solace in Fellowship, Faith

In a significant but under-reported story, the Associated Press highlights the faith of the military family at home:

Faced with long periods of separation and worry over the next combat tour, a group of wives…are drawn together weekly to seek spiritual support to bolster the strength of their marriages…

“The military, because of the complexities of the deployment, can have more uncertainties,” she said. “The reason God is the answer is because scripture says that He has never changed. From the beginning of time to the end of time, He is unchanging.”

Mya Parker, wife of an Army aviator and a former Soldier herself, started the non-denominational “Lantern” Bible fellowship.  They meet in small Read more