Awesome! Judge Joseph Tauro has ruled, in both Massachusetts cases that were challenging the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, that section 3 of DOMA (which defines marriage) is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
There's a good summary of the cases and the outcomes<\/a> at 365gay.com. One case applies only to MA; the other applies only to the couple who brought the suit. But the ripples are likely to be big.<\/p>\n And though I haven't read them in full yet, summaries in various news articles suggest that Judge Tauro's rulings are everything we could have hoped for. For example, from Gill<\/cite>:<\/p>\n In the wake of DOMA, it is only sexual orientation that differentiates a married couple entitled to federal marriage-based benefits from one not so entitled. And this court can conceive of no way in which such a difference might be relevant to the provision of the benefits at issue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n and:<\/p>\n [E]ven if Congress believed at the time of DOMA's passage that children had the best chance at success if raised jointly by their biological mothers and fathers, a desire to encourage heterosexual couples to procreate and rear their own children more responsibly would not provide a rational basis for denying federal recognition to same-sex marriages. Such denial does nothing to promote stability in heterosexual parenting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n and:<\/p>\n Congress undertook this classification for the one purpose that lies entirely outside of legislative bounds, to disadvantage a group of which it disapproves. And such a classification, the Constitution clearly will not permit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Go, Judge Tauro!<\/p>\n So what happens next? From the 365gay article:<\/p>\n However, it is expected that the federal government will appeal and ask for a stay Friday, meaning that things will stay as they were before the ruling: no federal recognition of gay marriages yet. The cases are likely to keep moving through the courts in tandem.<\/p>\n If the plaintiffs (the gay side) for EITHER case win in the First Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, then it is very likely that section 3 of DOMA will be struck down for the entire district: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. This would mean that married couples in New Hampshire would also have their marriages recognized by the federal government.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You can read the full rulings online, as PDFs: Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management et al.<\/a> and Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. US Dept. Health and Human Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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