(Image Source: The New York Times)

BY JENNIFER LONG

You're watching multisource politics news analysis from Newsy.

A disabled Navy veteran wants equal benefits for her same-sex partner– but the Defense of Marriage Act says her wife--technically-- isn’t her spouse. Democracy Now explains the disagreement.

“A disabled Navy veteran denied government benefits is preparing to file a lawsuit challenging two federal laws defining marriage as between members of the opposite sex. Connecticut resident, former sailor, Carmen Cardona recently applied for an increase to her monthly disability compensation after getting married last year.”

She is considered 80 percent disabled because of carpel tunnel syndrome and military veterans with service-connected disabilities of 30 percent or more are eligible for spousal benefits. The New York Times says Cardona made the request for those benefits on the advice of a veteran’s organization counselor.

But Veteran Affairs denied her application quoting Title 38 of the U.S. Code that indicates...

“The term ‘spouse’ means a person of the opposite sex who is a wife or husband.”

This isn’t the first time Veteran Affairs has denied an application like this -- but a Yale Law student on Cardona’s legal team says this is the first time a plaintiff has tried to use the veteran’s court of appeals to attack the law.

She tells Connecticut’s News Times...

"It's our understanding that Ms. Cardona is the first veteran to demand the VA recognize (same-sex marriages). While President Obama has said that the Department of Justice will not defend DOMA in court, that does not mean that federal agencies will (stop) enforcing DOMA."

A professor of constitutional and veteran’s law at Stetson University says in a New York Times article-- this case is part of a “cultural legal shift.” He says...

“These challenges are bubbling up all over the place. With the recognition of same-sex marriage in New York, a big state, you’ll see this more frequently.”

Cardona says she initially wasn’t trying to make a larger legal point with this case -- she just wanted equal treatment. WTNH has her comments.

“I am fighting for that right. This is the land of the free and I believe that we all are equal and we should all get the same rights.”

Cardona’s legal team says there are approximately 1 million gay veterans in the United States and this case could set an important precedent for other gay couples seeking veteran benefits.

Transcript by Newsy