Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
As I'm sure you can all tell, this is huge news. Follow me over the jump for quotes from the article and a smidge of perspective.
The federal Defense of Marriage Act interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Massachusetts is the first state to challenge the federal law. Its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, argues the act "constitutes an overreaching and discriminatory federal law."
The lawsuit focuses on the section of the law that creates a federal definition of marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."
Before the law was passed, Coakley said, the federal government recognized that defining marital status was the "exclusive prerogative of the states."
This is a perfectly reasonably and legit challenge, since technically, the federal government is not in the marriage business. And DOMA also violates Article Four, Section 1 of the Constitution, not to mention the "due process" clause. (Note: I am not a lawyer)
"In enacting DOMA, Congress overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people," the lawsuit states.
The defendants named in the suit include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the federal government.
Even as Mass. challenges DOMA, though, there are still people fighting gay marriage in other states.
In Maine, the Stand for Marriage Maine coalition said it took only four weeks to gather more than the 55,087 signatures necessary to put gay marriage to a vote.
The Maine law to legalize gay marriage had been scheduled to go into effect Sept. 12. It will be put on hold after the signatures are submitted and certified by the secretary of state's office. Voters will then decide in November whether the law should stand.
We have to keep fighting for our rights, both in federal court and on a state by state basis.