Attorney General Eric Holder penned
a piece for the USA Today Monday announcing that the Department of Justice will file a friend-of-the-court brief this week arguing that same-sex marriage bans nationwide are unconstitutional in the cases to be argued before the Supreme Court next month. The position goes considerably further than the last brief the government filed in advance of Supreme Court consideration of marriage equality in 2013.
That brief argued for an expansion of the states that offered same-sex marriage but stopped short of pushing for marriage equality nationwide.
This week, the Justice Department will file a brief setting forth our position that state bans on same-sex marriage violate the fundamental constitutional guarantee of "equal protection of the laws." It is clear that the time has come to recognize that gay and lesbian people deserve robust protection from discrimination.
Nothing justifies excluding same-sex couples from the institution of marriage. Denying them the right to marry serves only to demean them and their children, to degrade the dignity of their families and to deny them the full, free and equal participation in American life to which every citizen is entitled.
In the piece, Holder noted what many Americans so often forget about marriage bans—they prevent same-sex couples from accessing an array of federal benefits that, in turn, threatens their financial security, their families, and their mental, physical, and emotional health.
The bans intersect with issues as varied as workers' compensation, taxation and inheritance, posing challenges to basic financial security. Same-sex couples living in states with bans too often face obstacles to adopting and raising children together. And restrictions on medical decision-making and hospital visitation impose devastating burdens during the moments when a partner is needed most.
The mental and emotional injuries are just as acute. A marriage ban written into state law broadcasts the state's view that same-sex couples and their children are second-class families, undeserving of the rights and protections offered to opposite-sex couples. It creates a stigma that pervades society, encouraging individuals to harass or belittle even their loved ones because of pressures brought by their community.
Holder notes that "marriage equality is an idea whose time has come." Bravo, Mr. Holder.