Yesterday, the state of Massachusetts sued the United States of America. Also named in the suit were the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, the U.S. Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs, and the Secretary of both agencies.
Yes, you read that right. Massachusetts has a beef with the federal government. And why? Because Massachusetts wants its married gay couples to be recognized by the federal government with the same legal rights, privileges, and benefits as its married straight couples.
Referring to the Defense of Marriage Act, the Massachusetts Attorney General said this:
“We’re taking this action today because, first, we believe that [the Defense of Marriage Act] directly interferes with Massachusetts’ long-standing sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents. Massachusetts has a single category of married persons, and we view all married persons equally and identically,” she said.
“DOMA divides that category into two distinct and unequal classes of marriage … 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.”
Whoa.
Technically, Massachusetts is challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, and its definition of marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” and a spouse as “a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”
Massachusetts is, essentially, saying, “Don’t tell us our marriages aren’t valid, we signed ‘em into law here. You better reckanize! BREAK YO SEFF!”
Listen up, New York City – if you’re not careful, Boston is going to steal my heart and entice me to move there instead next year.
