Thursday, May 31, 2012

Federal Appeals Court stated that DOMA Unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to Married Gay Couples


Another fantastic blow to DOMA! Today, a federal appeals court said that DOMA denies federal benefits to married gay couples and it's unconstitutional.

AP News writes:
In its unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman discriminates against gay couples because it doesn't give them the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples.
The court didn't rule on the law's other politically combustible provision, which said states without same-sex marriage cannot be forced to recognize gay unions performed in states where it's legal. It also wasn't asked to address whether gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.
And
 The appeals court agreed with a lower court judge who ruled in 2010 that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.
Soon there won't be much left of this hateful law. I'm getting excited.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And it's 1st district so it applies to us in Rhode Island too.

But eventually it will be repealed nationwide, even the more odious provisions of the law.

But right now it's just dying the death of a thousand paper cuts.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.