LGBT News DOMA Declared Unconstitutional: Supreme Court Ruling

Yes. But now that the US Government has deemed "banning gay marriage" unconstitutional, it is going to be hard for a state not to pass gay marriage into law. If for some reason they do, it will go to a higher court. The decision today basically paved the way for each state to make it legal, without any dispute.

 

Not quite.

Prop 8 WAS NOT ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS. It was dismissed by SCOTUS, so it was only ruled unconstitutional by the lower courts, which usually doesn't mean much outside of said state. This means that the prop 8 decision only affects California in a very narrow way.

Still a lot of work to be done, but this is certainly a huge win for everyone!

 

Except for most states will still vote not to.

 

Ah! I see, thanks for the explanation.

 

Good day to be alive! This is a victory for all LGBT people everywhere, through time and space... :') :eusa_clap

 

Yay!! (!) ride::newcolor:

 

Does help to set precedent though (since the lower court's decision stands).

And as Aldrick mentioned to me (and others) constantly yesterday, it sets up perfectly for interstate law issues (i.e., couple gets married in DC then moves back to Virginia, or Washington back to Montana, etc.).

This and DOMA falling are going to make it much more difficult to deny arguments for marriage equality. The next 10 years in the judiciary are going to be very interesting to watch. ^.^

 

Here's how I feel about it.

*Knows that he's going to have tomatoes and boo thrown at him*

Well, now that people are increasingly giving more acceptance and/or tolerant at homosexuality, then there would be even less bitching about things that doesn't affect me as I truly don't care about the issue that much. As much as I like to give my opinion on sexuality and the likes, I got more important things to worry about regarding politics of homosexuality. So, people caring about it less will be less of a distraction and people can move on which means more productivity.

Ok, throw tomatoes or other foods at me. I think I'd rather be honest than have to lie just to keep some respect.

 

I saw the news break just as I got into work at 9 CDT this morning. Someone on my Facebook wall posted about DOMA being struck down. My heart jumped. I checked the news sites on the computer and they were starting to confirm this. It certainly helped to brighten up my morning, which consisted of only a few hours of sleep due to rain and storms last night.

This was a great day in the history of our country. I'm glad that LGBT American couples can now at least move to another state and receive both state AND federal benefits for their marriage, just like their straight counterparts. Of course there is still a lot of work to be done, as we still have 37 states where equality doesn't exist. But today's rulings were definitely a step in the right direction.

 

I feel so happy! But I know that there's still more work to be done. We're getting there, America...

 

I am so happy about today's rulings, but we still have a lot of work to do.

 

I echo most of what you all said. It's awesome but celebration is temporary. Time to get back to work. Now let's get Illinois to join up

Foxface

 

A lot of progress still needs to be made, but this is a very good start! I'm happy for my American neighbours!

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I actually heard about this yesterday afternoon, as it was the opening ceremony of Pride Festival here in Norway. They ended the speech with talking about an "historical event of huge importance for LGBT rights" and I got all geared up and hopeful, and wasn`t disappointed. The entire crowd cheered! It was awesome to hear about it so soon, without even having to go to EC to find out.

It`s been in the news today (one of our major newspapers) and it`s wonderful to read about

- En stor, stor dag for homorettigheter i USA - Aftenposten

http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/Ekteskap-for-alle-amerikanere-7241001.html#.UcwLV_kj3Dk

Funny thing was, it had rained heavily that entire day, and we were struggling keeping our spirits up, being wet and cold, but after that speech, hearing about the defeat of DOMA kept me warm for the rest of the evening.

(&&&)

 

This is correct. The way the court chose to rule on DOMA is HUGE, because they didn't decide it as narrowly as feared which was on the grounds of states rights. (Though states rights were mentioned, that isn't what their ruling was primarily based off.)

This is huge, because as Scalia angrily wrote they've basically opened up the flood gates and have effectively legalized same sex marriage nation wide. If it is illegal for the federal government to create laws SPECIFICALLY to target gay people and prevent them from getting married, then how is it legal for states to do the same? (Hint: It is not legal under the DOMA ruling.) This effectively overturns all the state constitutional amendments making marriage between a man and a woman, because they're doing exactly what DOMA did.

So, we've found ourselves in an inevitable situation where gay marriage is all but certain to become the law of the land in every state. It's just a matter of another case working its way up to the Supreme Court and asking them to rule on the issue, and there are going to be no shortage of states who are willing to fight it tooth and nail all the way.

So, right now I'm waiting for a case where a member of the military is legally married to his husband. The military recognizes his marriage (because the federal government is now forced to recognize it), and the state that they were stationed in at the time they were married recognizes it. However, due to being moved around by the military they end up in a non-marriage state. Suddenly, they find themselves in an odd position. On base, they are considered married, but the moment they step off base they are no longer married.

Or any other situation where someone has to relocate due to work or family issues from a marriage state to a non-marriage state. There is no lower court in the entire land, no matter how conservative, who is going to be able to look at this situation and say (based on both the Loving v. Virginia decision and now the DOMA decision) that this is a tenable or an acceptable position for a married couple. After all, if you're straight and you get married in New York (marriage state) and then relocate to New Jersey (non-marriage state), your marriage would be recognized under the states laws. However, if you're gay and this happens your marriage would not be - that's a violation of Equal Protection.

We're literally in a situation right now where it's a matter of WHEN not IF marriage is legalized in all fifty states. My personal view is that the court didn't decide to make a broader ruling for the reasons Justice Ginsburg discussed not to long ago regarding abortion. There is always a danger of the Court stepping out too far ahead of the public on social matters like this as it could cause a backlash. The fear likely was that if they went too broad too quickly, that there could be a backlash against gay rights in the country (harming the movement rather than helping). So, instead they decided to stick a knife in the anti-marriage group's cause, leaving it to slowly bleed out. As this happens public support will continue to grow and favor gay marriage, and even more states will move into the pro-marriage column. Thus, when the court takes up the next gay marriage case they'll be able to take that same knife and drive it thro

---------- Post added 27th Jun 2013 at 11:35 AM ----------

-- UGH! Edited my post, and it for some reason cut out the rest of my message. Here is the remaining part of my post. --


We're literally in a situation right now where it's a matter of WHEN not IF marriage is legalized in all fifty states. My personal view is that the court didn't decide to make a broader ruling for the reasons Justice Ginsburg discussed not to long ago regarding abortion. There is always a danger of the Court stepping out too far ahead of the public on social matters like this as it could cause a backlash. The fear likely was that if they went too broad too quickly, that there could be a backlash against gay rights in the country (harming the movement rather than helping). So, instead they decided to stick a knife in the anti-marriage group's cause, leaving it to slowly bleed out. As this happens public support will continue to grow and favor gay marriage, and even more states will move into the pro-marriage column. Thus, when the court takes up the next gay marriage case they'll be able to take that same knife and drive it through the heart of the anti-marriage cause.

If you read Scalia's (very angry!) dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas he basically outlines what it meant to decriminalize sodomy - it meant that it was a step toward recognizing gay relationships, and ultimately gay marriage. After all, if you say the government has no legal right to regulate the acts of consensual adults in the privacy of their own homes, then you've effectively stripped away the governments argument against gay marriage. And I'm rather certain that the Court knew that back in 2003 when they ruled on Lawrence v. Texas, it's exactly what started to happen, and the majority opinion against DOMA referenced the Lawrence v. Texas ruling several times.

The liberal justices (plus Kennedy) have set this up to play out over time exactly as it has - for public support to grow, and once a clear majority of the public favors gay marriage - then killing off the anti-marriage cause once and for all... thus (hopefully) avoiding a major social backlash against the gay rights movement. The justices aren't stupid. They know another gay marriage case is coming, and that in the future they're going to have to rule whether or not gay marriage can be legal in all fifty states... and when the time comes - they will do exactly that as the ground work will have been laid out by their previous decisions.

 

I'm happy they got rid of article 3, now just time to get rid of article 2. ;3