Not applicable in Texas or Mississippi
The Texas and Mississippi National Guards can't exactly say no to the Defense Department's decision to recognize same-sex marriages, but they can sure be assholes about it,
as they're demonstrating. They're not making it
impossible, mind you, just difficult: The Texas National Guard won't process applications for benefits itself, while Mississippi won't allow people to apply for benefits at offices on property owned by the state.
[Maj. Gen. John] Nichols wrote that his agency, which oversees Texas’ National Guard units, “remains committed to ensuring its military personnel and their families receive the benefits to which they are entitled. As such, we encourage anyone affected by this issue to enroll for benefits at a federal installation.” He then listed 22 bases operated by the Department of Defense in Texas where service members could enroll their families. [...]
Mississippi National Guard spokesman Tim Powell said the main factor in determining where same-sex spouses could apply for benefits came down to the property owner. Powell said only National Guard offices on federal property would accept the applications in Mississippi, which also constitutionally bans gay marriage.
Talk about picky nastiness.
One spouse of an Iraq war veteran who was turned away from a Texas state facility and told to go 90 miles to Fort Hood said, "It’s so petty. It’s not like it’s going to stop us from registering or stop us from marrying. It’s a pointed way of saying, 'We don’t like you.'" But more seriously—as if the gratuitous insult and unnecessarily long drive isn't enough—she worries about whether she'd get survivor benefits if her wife died on state duty. Presumably she would, but it might take a long fight at the time she least had the energy or resources to fight.
Texas and Mississippi are not alone in being states that have banned marriage equality, but they are alone in having said they'll make it difficult for their National Guard members to get benefits. So congratulations for leading the way in trying to drag the country backward, guys.