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Studds' Husband Denied Congressional Pension
365Gay.com
October 17, 2006 - 5:00 pm ET
(Washington) For the first time the surviving spouse of a member of Congress is being denied death benefits.
Dean Hara, who married former Massachusetts Rep. Gerry Studds shortly after same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts in 2004, has been disqualified for benefits under the so-called federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Studds, he first openly gay member of Congress died Saturday due to a blood clot in his lung. (story) He was 69.
Studds was first elected in 1972 and represented a southeastern district for 12 Congressional terms. Studds retired from Congress in 1997.
In 1983, Studds acknowledged he was gay after a 27-year-old man disclosed that he and Studds had had a sexual relationship a decade earlier when the man was a teenage congressional page.
The House of Representatives censured Studds, who then went home to face his constituents in a series of public meetings and who never lost their support.
During his 12 terms in Congress Studds contributed to the pension fund. Long-serving members of Congress like Studds retire with up to 80 percent of their highest salary.
At the time of his death Studds was receiving an estimated annual pension of $114,337.
Surviving spouses of members of Congress collect more than half of the pension for the remainder of their lives.
But not Hara.
"A gay spouse will not receive any sort of pension or annuity or anything like that," Chad Cowan, a spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which administers the congressional pension program told the Lowell, Massachusetts Sun.
"It's not anything that anybody in our office has seen before," he added.
Federal DOMA was passed by Congress a dozen years ago and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It regularly denies same-sex couples any federal benefits, but this is the first time it has affected the surviving spouse of a member of Congress.
Nevertheless, Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) who pled guilty last week to conspiracy charges and faces up to 10 years in prison for taking bribes will receive about $29,000 a year from his pension for the rest of his life - even while he is in prison.