In 1996, then US president Bill Clinton signed into law the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA). This act restricted federal accessibility to only opposite-sex couples and if any state did allow same-sex unions it wouldn’t be recognized across state lines.
The past few weeks have seen the marriage debate in the US heat up with the Supreme Court reviewing DOMA. Should the court decide to repeal DOMA then interstate recognition of same-sex marriages would be applied even if the state doesn’t allow such unions.
Also, same-sex couples would have access to federal benefits such as filing joint tax returns, immigration, social security, and insurance claims. The repeal of DOMA would not make same-sex marriage a requirement across the US.
It’s doubtful that the court will rule in favour of making same-sex marriages the law of the land, but a repeal of DOMA would still be a win. Although if the US looks north to Canada they may take note that we have had legal same-sex unions for eight years and Canada has not fallen into disarray, birth-rates haven’t declined, and the sky hasn’t fallen.
The Supreme Court will more than likely repeal DOMA and leave the federal marriage debate for another court to decide.
We still have a long way to go before we can really refer to ourselves as truly civilized anywhere in the world.
We live in a society of privilege and disadvantage. Our social evolution toward an egalitarian society is a slow movement against a tide of privilege seeking to maintain their lofty positions.