The Supreme Court & Marriage

[LuciferLynn]

I support gay marriage because it just seems right to me. Be gay all fucking day, I don't care. However, even if I didn't support gay marriage, I would still rally for it, only because I don't want the government telling ME who I can and cannot marry. How do they figure it's any of their business? And quite honestly, until the men and women in congress having hot, steamy, illicit affairs and secret children stop altogether, keep your "sanctity of marriage" bullshit and shove it up your lovers ass, if you haven't already. If the Goddamn men and women of congress can't keep their shit together long enough to honor their vows, don't stand up in front of mic and say that gay marriage is morally wrong and marrs everything marriage stands for. I swear to God, moving to Switzerland looks more and more like a wonderful idea with each and every passing day.

[HairOfTheDog]

Major victory for gay rights proponents...

WASHINGTON — In a pair of major victories for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that married same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits and, by declining to decide a case from California, effectively allowed same-sex marriages there.

The rulings leave in place laws banning same-sex marriage around the nation, and the court declined to say whether there was a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. But in clearing the way for same-sex marriage in California, the nation’s most populous state, the court effectively increased to 13 the number of states that allow such unions.

The decision on federal benefits will immediately extend many benefits to couples in the states where same-sex marriage is legal, and it will give the Obama administration the ability to broaden other benefits through executive actions.

The case concerning California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, was decided on technical grounds, with the majority saying that it was not properly before the court. Because officials in California had declined to appeal a trial court’s decision against them and because the proponents of Proposition 8 were not entitled to step into the state’s shoes to appeal the decision, the court said, it was powerless to issue a decision. That left in place a trial court victory for two same-sex couples who had sought to marry.

The decision on the federal law was 5 to 4, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing the majority opinion, which the four liberal-leaning justices joined.

“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”

Full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/us/pol...riage.html
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These rulings don't mean that gay marriage is legal across the US.

But, they take the Fed/DOMA out of the equation and leave gay marriage laws to the individual states.

For those gay couples who are legally married, they can no longer be denied the same federal benefits as other married couples.

[HairOfTheDog]

Crowds are gathering and celebrating here at San Francisco's City Hall.

Gay marriages can now officially resume in the state of California.



IDK details of what Obama has in mind in terms of executive actions that further benefit gay couples (noted in above article), but here's his reaction to the Supreme Court (very narrowly) overturning DOMA.

President Obama called Proposition 8 plaintiffs to congratulate them. "I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. This was discrimination enshrined in law. It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people. The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal – and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

[Duchess]

What the hell is this? Why are Bert & Ernie celebrating DOMA? They are snuggling on the couch!

[Duchess]

I'm only disgusted because Sesame Street has spent a number of years denying that Bert & Ernie are gay. I support gay marriage & gay rights in general.

Should I take that cover to mean they have come out of the closet?

[Maggot]

A blow for State sovereignty. I could care less if gays get married, I say let them taste the mess of divorce just like everyone else. But for the Supreme court to overrule a states decision voted and ratified on only shows the arrogance of the central government in the current erosion of states rights. What's next? Each states ability to tax its residents the way it sees fit?

[Duchess]

I could care less if gays get married, I say let them taste the mess of divorce just like everyone else.

The only people I ever see say any different are politicians...and Dick.

[HairOfTheDog]

A blow for State sovereignty. I could care less if gays get married, I say let them taste the mess of divorce just like everyone else. But for the Supreme court to overrule a states decision voted and ratified on only shows the arrogance of the central government in the current erosion of states rights. What's next? Each states ability to tax its residents the way it sees fit?

I see it differently. It's a victory for state sovereignty.

The Supreme Court essentially ruled that the federal government doesn't have a place in marriage laws. The states decide. If a state law legally permits same sex marriage, then the married same sex couple is simply a married couple like any other from any state and entitled to the same federal benefits.

If the state doesn't permit same sex marriage, not the fed's problem.

As for California's prop 8, the Supreme Court simply declined to overrule a local trial court decision permitting same sex marriage.

How are you viewing it as a blow to the states, Maggot?

[ZEROSPHERES]

That decision immediately grants same sex spouses of federal employee's all the benefits of the heterosexual married couples in federal employment. I don't see any state constitution where same sex marriage isn't recognized as being able to withstand a challenge in the courts when it comes to this ruling.

[Cynical Ninja]

One of the DOMA retards said that allowing same sex marriage would “turn some straight people gay”.

What a stoopid motherfucker.