--- title: Federal Benefits Will Be Available to All Same-Sex Couples description: Federal marriage benefits will now be extended to all same-sex couples in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision. canonical: https://time.com/3950928/same-sex-couples-federal-benefits/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-09T13:58:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:05:25.549Z article:section: Politics og:title: Federal Benefits Will Be Available to All Same-Sex Couples og:description: Federal marriage benefits will now be extended to all same-sex couples in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision. og:url: https://time.com/3950928/same-sex-couples-federal-benefits/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f6a351955323ab0/69885327524fc0cc60df2f56/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Loretta Lynch testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Federal Benefits Will Be Available to All Same-Sex Couples twitter:description: Federal marriage benefits will now be extended to all same-sex couples in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f6a351955323ab0/69885327524fc0cc60df2f56/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Federal Benefits Will Be Available to All Same-Sex Couples  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 9, 2015 1:58 PM UTC  Loretta Lynch is sworn in to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be U.S. attorney general on Capitol Hill in Washington January 28, 2015. Loretta Lynch is sworn in to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be U.S. attorney general on Capitol Hill in Washington January 28, 2015.© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters—REUTERS  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 9, 2015 1:58 PM UTC Federal marriage benefits will be extended to all same-sex couples in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage across the country, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Thursday. “I am proud to announce that the critical programs for veterans and elderly and disabled Americans, which previously could not give effect to the marriages of couples living in states that did not recognize those marriages, will now provide federal recognition for all marriages nationwide,” Lynch said in a statement. “With the Supreme Court’s new ruling that the Constitution requires marriage equality, we have now taken the further step of ensuring that all federal benefits will be available equally to married couples in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the US Territories,” she said. The Supreme Court [decided in a 5-4 ruling](http://time.com/3937244/supreme-court-gay-marriage-decision/) last month that all states must grant same-sex couples marriage licenses and recognize similar unions from other states. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3950928/same-sex-couples-federal-benefits/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3950928/same-sex-couples-federal-benefits/"},"headline":"Federal Benefits Will Be Available to All Same-Sex Couples","datePublished":"2015-07-09T13:58:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:05:25.549Z","description":"Following Supreme Court ruling","url":"https://time.com/3950928/same-sex-couples-federal-benefits/","keywords":["LGBT","White House","same sex marriage","Benefits"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f6a351955323ab0/69885327524fc0cc60df2f56/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f6a351955323ab0/69885327524fc0cc60df2f56/loretta-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Loretta Lynch testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington","caption":"Loretta Lynch testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington","creditText":"© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters—REUTERS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lgbt/","name":"LGBT"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3950928/same-sex-couples-federal-benefits/","name":"Federal Benefits Will Be Available to All Same-Sex Couples"}}]}] ```