Charlie Morgan, Lesbian Service Member With Cancer, Asks John Boehner To Stop Defending DOMA
From The Huffington Post:
WASHINGTON -- A lesbian National Guardsman -- who is fighting Stage IV breast cancer and who fears time is running out for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act in her lifetime -- learned today she can meet with staff of Speaker of the House John Boehner. Concerned that survivor benefits would be denied her wife if she dies, she hopes to convince staffers that Boehner should drop his plan to defend the law in court.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Charlie Morgan, a 17-year full-time member of the New Hampshire Army National Guard, has tried for weeks to get a meeting with Boehner or his staff only to be rebuffed. In a letter and a series of emails shared with The Huffington Post, Morgan, 47, stressed that "time is of the essence," given her medical prognosis.
"I want to be able to tell my personal story, to tell him we have similar values when it comes to family and the military," Morgan told HuffPost in a phone interview. "I want him to really look me in the eye and [know] he's hurting my family and so many other families" by defending the Defense of Marriage Act.
Morgan's requests had been stonewalled by Boehner's office until HuffPost reached out to his office for a comment.
“The Speaker’s staff would certainly be willing to meet with Ms. Morgan,” Michael Steel, Boehner's spokesman, emailed HuffPost today.
