Pentagon refuses to intervene over rule preventing Lesbian wife from joining Fort Bragg spouses club

• Ashley Broadway, the wife of Lt. Col. Heather Mack, was blocked from joining the wives club at Fort Bragg last month
• The Pentagon says the club hasn't done anything wrong because it has acted in compliance with the DOD's instruction
• That instruction predates 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' and doesn't yet outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation
• Broadway has accused the Army of continued discrimination against gays and lesbians
  

By David Mccormack

Published: 18:42 EST, 16 January 2013 | Updated: 07:59 EST, 17 January 2013

The Pentagon has refused to get involved in a row brewing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina where the on-base spouses club has refused membership to the lesbian spouse of a female Army lieutenant, a Department of Defense spokesman said Wednesday.

Last month Ashley Broadway, the newlywed wife of Lt. Col. Heather Mack, was blocked from joining the club at Fort Bragg. She was told she couldn’t be admitted because she lacked a military spouse ID card, a rule only enacted after she asked to join.

The move sparked accusations that Broadway was being prevented from joining simply because she is a lesbian.

Modern family: Ashley Broadway, right, the same-sex wife of Lt Colonel Heather Mack, left, has been denied membership of Fort Bragg's military spouses' club

Speaking out after the Pentagon’s decision not to get overrule the club, Broadway said she was extremely disappointed by the disregard of both officials at Fort Bragg and at the Department of the Army to the continued discrimination against gays and lesbians despite the repeal of 'Don’t Ask Don’t Tell' in 2011.

‘This is no longer about me joining this officers club. This is about the Pentagon and the Department of Defense and the Department of Army telling the country that it is OK to discriminate against gay and lesbian service members and their families,’ she told NBC News.

‘This is not the end. I’m not going to drop this. I’m not going to sit back and take the discrimination when I know good and well the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense can sign rights today that would also authorize military IDs and extend housing (to the same-sex spouses of service members),’ she said.

Happy family: The couple have been together 15 years, they share a two-year-old boy and have another baby on the way

The legal basis for the Pentagon’s stance is a department-wide ‘instruction’ drafted in 2008. It ensures that ‘non-federal entities’ operating on U.S. military installations don’t discriminate on the basis of ‘race, color, creed, sex, age, disability, or national origin,’ but makes no mention of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

‘The Officer Spouses' Club at Ft. Bragg is in compliance with the DOD instruction,’ said Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Pentagon.

‘When you look at the instruction there are a few things it has to meet. As long as they meet those criteria, they’re allowed to meet on the base.’

The Army’s handling of that matter runs counter to a directive issued Jan. 9 by Marine Corps leaders who ordered that same-sex spouses be allowed to participate in spouses clubs at all Marine bases.

However the Pentagon's position on the Fort Bragg matter is legally viable because the Department of Defense still follows the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.

Broadway married her partner of 15 years, Lt Colonel Heather Mack, in November after the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy banning openly gay service members from the military.

The newlyweds have a two-year-old son, and Mack is now eight months pregnant with the couple's second child.

'After "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell," I thought, wow, I can finally be part of something, finally give back to the military community in ways other than just writing a check. So it was a blow. A real blow. Here, I thought things were progressing. I was knocked back down,' said Broadway.

Unofficial club: The Association of Bragg Officers' Spouses is located in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, but it is not directly affiliated with the Department of Defense

In an open letter to the spouses group in December, Broadway wrote about her commitment to the military, saying that she has been to every one of her wife’s promotion ceremonies and endured every deployment.

In the letter, Broadway said that she has been a valuable member of the military community, tutoring Army children in reading and volunteering her time with Humane Societies assisting soldiers in finding homes for their pets while they serve overseas – activities that make her an ideal candidate for membership in the club.

The Association of Bragg Officers' Spouses is a non-profit organization, which means that it is not directly affiliated with the Department of Defense. Maxwell suggested that the club's status gives it legal leeway to discriminate against applicants like Broadway.

‘They are part of and affiliated, by definition, with Fort Bragg. They need to understand the Army and the military’s directive on this by the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” They need to step in line with that,’ she said.

Maxwell has accused club president Mary King of imposing her personal homophobic beliefs on the organization and called on her to step down.