The SCOTUS DOMA Decision – What It Means

A Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of section 3 of the The Defense of Marriage will be revealed this month.  Gay couples and allies wait for the verdict – one that would provide over 1100 rights to same sex couples. Murray Lipp offers a great overview in Huffington Post Gay Voices blog.  He gives a good overview of the history of the law and Eddie Windsor’s case against it (For more information on that, see my DOMA Digest).

I particularly liked his list of five ways in what he calls  “DOMA’s destructive impact.  He offers a great description of the negative impact DOMA creates and what would be gained if DOMA section 3 is repealed.  In brief they are:

1. Immigration (this one strikes close to home as my husband is Canadian and here on a student visa – when that expires, if DOMA is still in effect, we need to leave the US)
2. Social Security and Medicare
3. Federal Taxes
4. Family Medical Leave
5. Military Benefits

Except for number 5, these impact ALL married couples –  Our fingers are crossed as we wait for word from the high court.  In the meantime, please share this post with others so people begin to realize what the ramifications of discriminatory laws have on their gay friends and family.  It is clear from recent polling that many straight (and some gay) Americans don’t really understand what DOMA is and how it impacts the lives of married gay couples in our country.  The more people know, the more minds change, the closer to equality as a nation we become.