Gay Marriages: US SC delivers wins for movement

Same-sex marriages paves way in California, the most populous state.

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights on Wednesday by forcing the federal government to recognise same-sex marriage in states where it is legal and paving the way for it in California, the most populous state.

The two cases, both decided on 5-4 votes, concerned the constitutionality of a key part of a federal law, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), that denied benefits to same-sex married couples, and a voter-approved California state law enacted in 2008, called Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.

The court struck down Section 3 of Doma, which limited the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal benefits, as a violation of the US Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

By striking down Section 3 of Doma, the court cleared the way for legally married couples to claim more than 1,100 federal benefits, rights and burdens linked to marriage status.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2013.