Utah Social Security Finally Relents – Grants Same-Sex Couples Benefits

After denying benefits to legally married Utah same-sex couples for over a week, the Social Security Administration is now calling the couples back and telling them to come in.

1300 same-sex couples were married in Utah between December 2013 and January 2014, during the brief window where marriage equality was legal before the U.S. Supreme Court imposed a stay on Judge Robert Shelby’s ruling that banning the marriages was unconstitutional.

That stay left the couples’ benefits, including federal marriage benefits like Social Security, on hold. But as of October 6, when SCOTUS rejected seven marriage cases including Utah’s, LGBTQ couples were once again free to marry.

But as we have reported, while state agencies were ordered to immediately begin processing benefits equally, the Utah Social Security offices continued to deny couples–even when threatened with a federal lawsuit.

Salt Lake City Social Security Offices

Late Friday, October 10, one of the newlywed couples received an email from Sean Brune, the Regional Commissioner for the SSA. According to his email:

Today we published policy update RM10212.035, Evidence of Name Change based on a US Same-Sex Marriage. This update instructs our offices to accept marriage documents issued to same-sex couples for marriages that took place on 10/6/2014 or later by jurisdictions (town, county or State) in the State of Utah as evidence of a name change. We are still awaiting instruction on marriage documents issued in Utah prior to 10/6/2014.

In other words, SSA would now accept same-sex marriages in Utah for couples married on or after SCOTUS’ 10/6/2014 decision, but the 1300 couples married earlier were still on hold.

It now seems that last restriction has been lifted. “I just received a call from the Salt Lake City [Social Security] office,” says Austin Vance, who delivered a letter threatening the federal lawsuit from his lawyer to the SSA offices last week. “They told me they have just released a new directive, and we can now go in, confirm our address, and they will issue us the new [Social Security] cards.”

Calls to several of the other previously-denied couples confirmed that they received similar calls.

Social Security has continued to refuse to comment on why or how the delay happened. Clerks had told the couples that they “needed to figure out the process,” but given that SSA uses a federal database that was updated 15 months ago to accommodate for legally married LGBTQ couples, that explanation made no sense.

 

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

 

Eric Ethington has been specializing in political messaging, communications strategy, and public relations for more than a decade. Originally hailing from Salt Lake City, he now works in Boston for a social justice think tank. Eric’s writing, advocacy work, and research have been featured on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, CNBC, the New York Times, The Telegraph, LGBTQ Nation, and The Public Eye magazine. He’s worked as a radio host, pundit, reporter, activist and electoral campaign strategist. Follow him on Twitter @EricEthington. He also writes at NuanceStillMatters.com