Gay marriage goes to the Supreme Court
Maira Garcia (R) and Maria Vargas wait on line to get married at the Brooklyn City Clerk’s office in New York City in July. Washington’s state Senate cleared its same-sex marriage bill Wednesday night, which is expected to pass in the House as early as next week. Washington will be the seventh state to legalize gay marriage.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has called for the US Supreme Court to support an earlier decision that struck down parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, passed during the Clinton administration, which defined marriage as a heterosexual privilege, Reuters reported.
This could be the first time the Supreme Court considers a gay marriage case.
Coakley and the couples she represents are seeking a Supreme Court ruling that would give homosexual Massachusetts citizens the same benefits heterosexual couples enjoy with marriage, such as spousal death benefits and citizenship.
Coakley unequivocally criticized DOMA in a statement, quoted from the Boston Globe:
“The Defense of Marriage Act is a discriminatory and unconstitutional law that harms thousands of families in Massachusetts and takes away our state’s right to extend marriage equality to all couples."
Reuters said Coakley's actions were instigated by a brief, filed on June 29, "by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) … which wants the court to reverse the lower court ruling."
BLAG took up defending DOMA after the Obama administration said it would no longer would in 2011.
Back in 2010, DOMA was ruled unconstitutional by a Massachusetts district court, a ruling that was later unanimously upheld by the First Court of Appeals, according to Reuters.