(Community Matters) of course it’s unconstitutional – discrimination based on sexual orientation, please! new york times
BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court Thursday declared that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married gay couples, a groundbreaking ruling all but certain to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Two of the three judges who decided the case Thursday were Republican appointees, while the other was a Democratic appointee.”
Yeah, but after reading the article in the Statesman this am, it makes me a little concerned. They appear to be going after the equality of benefits of marriage for those in states where marriage is currently legal for gays/lesbians on the basis that it’s the state’s right to define marriage. This seems to me to give the Supreme court a way to codify the current hodge-podge of states where there are (more) equal rights and those states that totally define marriage as between a man/woman. I would argue that it’s not the state’s right to define marriage (see Loving v. Virginia, isn’t that the name of it?)
It appears that we might be setting ourselves up to win the battle, but lose the war.