It is fitting that the Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to rule on DOMA (the notorious 'defense of marriage act' that recognizes only marriages between heterosexual men and women for federal law purposes). See AP, Supreme Court Asked to Rule on Marriage Act, New York Times, July 3, 2012, at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/us/supreme-court-asked-to-rule-on-marriage-act.html.
As noted in the article, the Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to take up an appeal of the lower court rulings overturning parts of DOMA, so that the (un)constitutionality of DOMA can be settled once and for all. This is important, because federal agencies--such as the IRS--are required to continue to follow DOMA, even though the Obama administration has determined that the law is unconstitutional and therefore it will not defend the law in court. IN the meantime, gay couples who are married under state law cannot be assured that their marriages will be respected in other states and must continue to file their federal income tax returns as single individuals rather than as married couples--married for state law purposes but not for federal law purposes.
It would be fitting if the Supreme Court took on this appeal and ended the peculiar institution of religiously motivated marriage discrimination against homosexual individuals in this country. Surely we are beyond the stage where we consider such travesties of common justice reasonable under a Constitution that purports to support individual rights. I don't care whether some churches refuse to conduct gay marriages--that's for their decision-making bodies to decide. But the fact that some people in this country "believe" that "God" doesn't want gay people to be able to marry doesn't give them the ability to enact legislation carrying out their discriminatory purpose. The states, and the federal government, must ultimately recognize for legal purposes unions between gays just like unions between straights.
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