By
Cat Viglienzoni - July 9, 2010
A Boston judge issued a ruling yesterday on gay marriage
that could have national impact. The ruling states the federal ban on gay
marriage infringes on a state's right to determine what constitutes a marriage.
Judge Joseph Tauro, ruling in two separate challenges to
the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), said the law "induces the Commonwealth
to violate the equal protection rights of its citizens'' and "plainly intrudes
on a core area of state sovereignty, the ability to define the marital status
of its citizens.''
He said throughout United States history, states have always
been able to define what they view as marriage within their borders. His ruling
states the Commonwealth can recognize same-sex marriages and those couples can
receive the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples.
Staff attorney Janson Wu with the Gay and Lesbian
Advocates and Defenders, which brought one of the suits, said in an interview
with WERS News they focused primarily on DOMA because it harms the same-sex
families.
"We're just thrilled and gratified that the court
recognized that DOMA for no good reason bans legally-married couples and their
families from receiving the same federal benefits as all married couples," he
said.
Wu said because of DOMA, one couple they are representing
has paid thousands of dollars extra in federal taxes. Others do not receive the
same benefits in social security, federal taxes, federal employee health
benefits, family and medical leave and veterans benefits because the federal
government does not recognize their union. Wu said there are 1,138 federal laws
that are conditioned on a person's marital status.
Attorney General Martha Coakley, who brought the other
suit, said the decision applies to about 16,000 couples in the state who have
been married since Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004.
However, there were concerns over the potential impact of
the law, which focuses on states' rights, on the movement for national marriage
equality. But Vice President of Political Affairs at the Gay and Lesbian
Activists Alliance in Washington D.C. Rick Rosendall said in an interview with
WERS News a ruling that protects them in one context won't block them in
another.
"Incrementalism has been the hallmark of our progress as
a movement," he said. "We have made in the past 50 years extraordinary progress
and it did not all happen at once."
However, critics condemned the ruling, saying it
undermines heterosexual marriages. They also say the federal government should
have the right to determine who receives federal benefits. If the government appeals
the decision, it will go to the First Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to
the Supreme Court.
(Photo
courtesy: AP Images)
