Gay veteran, 74, denied burial with spouse

[Gaybutton]

Gay veteran, 74, denied burial with spouse because of Idaho law

CBS News
April 24, 2014

Madelynn Taylor has earned the right to be buried at the Idaho Veterans Cemetery because of her six years of service in the Navy. But her now-deceased wife can't join her because state law doesn't recognize their marriage, CBS affiliate KBOI reports.

"I'm not surprised," Taylor told the station. "I've been discriminated against for 70 years, and they might as well discriminate against me in death as well as life."

The Division of Veterans Services says there is nothing they can do because they have to follow the Idaho Constitution, which says "a marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state."

Heterosexual veterans can be buried with a spouse. Taylor, 74, was hoping the cemetery would approve her request since their ashes would fit in one spot on the wall.

"It's not taking up any more space to have both of us in there, and I don't see where the ashes of a couple of old lesbians is going to hurt anybody," she said.

Gay couples are allowed to be buried together at national veterans' cemeteries, the station reported, but the one in Boise is a state cemetery.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gay-veteran ... idaho-law/

[Alex]

Gay couples are allowed to be buried together at national veterans' cemeteries, the station reported, but the one in Boise is a state cemetery.

Well if that's the case, can't they just send their ashes to one of these national cemeteries instead? Sounds easy enough. Sooner or later the provision in the Idaho Constitution will surely be voided, but that's not helping them right now.

[Gaybutton]

can't they just send their ashes to one of these national cemeteries instead?

I don't think so. Idaho won't let their ashes be together because so far the state law won't permit it. The article doesn't quite specify it, but apparently only one of them is a military veteran. If that's the case, then the one who wasn't a vet wouldn't be eligible to be interred in a national cemetery. Either way, they still lose.