Same-Sex Army Wife Rejects Club’s ‘Special Guest’ Offer
A same-sex Army wife has rejected an offer for a “special guest membership” to an officers’ spouse club at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
The woman, Ashley Broadway, made headlines last month after the club refused her application to join the private organization, because she lacked a military ID.
Broadway is married to Lt. Col. Heather Mack. Because the two are both women, the military denies them many benefits that are afforded to opposite-sex couples, reports The Los Angeles Times.
The spouse group reportedly told Broadway in December that she wasn’t eligible for membership to the club at all, because she doesn’t have a military ID. But the group’s statement contradicts this, saying that it doesn’t “explicitly” require one for membership.
The group’s statement added that the same-sex Army wife’s request to join “would need to be studied.” The spouse group offered Broadway the guest membership on Thursday night.
The membership would allow the couple to attend the club’s next event “in a continued attempt to support all military families.”
Despite this, NBC News notes that Ashley Broadway immediately rejected the offer, calling it “extremely demeaning.”
The guest membership would let the woman join in club activities, but not allow her to vote on club matters. During an interview on Thursday night, Broadway stated of the offered membership:
“I correlate ‘guest membership’ to saying, ‘Heather, you can be gay and be in the military but we’re not going to treat your spouse as equal.’ I can be in this club but I can’t have full membership? That’s not acceptable.”
Do you think that the same-sex Army wife should be allowed into the spouses’ club without restrictions?
