Three Marine corporals have been dismissed on bad conduct charges after Marine Corps officials discovered they were each involved in fraudulent marriages. Corporal Ashley Vice, who is a lesbian, and her partner Jaime Murphy, a civilian, married Corporal Jeremiah Griffin and Corporal Joseph Garner in order to collect $1,200 in stipends.
Vice, Griffin, and Garner each face $5,000 in fines and imprisonment for three to six months after pleading guilty to the charges.
Vince and Murphy told the Los Angeles Times they needed the stipend to afford their housing since they lived off-base.
Even though the military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has ended, same-sex couples are unable to collect stipends for married households since unmarried couples, either gay or straight, are not allowed to live together on base housing.
