Supreme Court issues victory for gay rights, strikes down DOMA
Brooklyn activist: It's a `monumental victory'
The United States Supreme Court issued two rulings on Wednesday that have been cited as a major victory for the gay rights movement in America.
The court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal law that prevented same sex couples from receiving federal benefits akin to heterosexual couples, and found technical flaws in the challenge against the repeal of Proposition 8, California’s controversial ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
DOMA had been challenged by Edith Windsor, who sued the federal government after being made to pay over $300,000 in estate taxes on her late wife’s estate because the government did not recognize her marriage to her partner of more than 40 years.
Under the tax rules applied to heterosexual couples, spouses do not have to pay estate taxes. In the suit, Windsor argued that DOMA violates the equal protection guarantee of the U.S. Constitution because it requires the government to treat same-sex couples who are legally married as strangers.