In a big victory for America’s gay rights movement, the US Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a legal provision that denies benefits to same-sex couples in 12 States and the National capital. It also cleared the decks for gay and lesbian marriages in California, the country’s largest State.
The court, however, refrained from making a comprehensive pronouncement on the validity of or constitutional right to same-sex marriages per se. Both the cases were decided by a bare majority of 5-4, indicating the sharp polarisation over the issue.In one case, the court struck down a key provision of the federal Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA). In the second one, it left in place a trial court’s declaration that California’s Proposition 8 (banning same-sex marriages) is unconstitutional.
In its comment on the DOMA provision, the court held that it violated equal protection norms by providing benefits to heterosexual couples while denying them to gay couples in the 12 States and the District of Columbia that permit same-sex marriages.President Barack Obama applauded the court rulings, saying: “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.”
He said the rejection of the DOMA provision is “a victory for couples who have long fought for equal treatment under the law; for children whose parents’ marriages will now be recognized, rightly, as legitimate; for families that, at long last, will get the respect and protection they deserve; and for friends and supporters who have wanted nothing more than to see their loved ones treated fairly and have worked hard to persuade their nation to change for the better”.
Obama said he has directed the Attorney General to work with other members of my Cabinet to review all relevant federal statutes to ensure the decision, including its implications for Federal benefits and obligations, was implemented swiftly and smoothly.
“The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free,” he said.