Know Your Rights: DOJ Decides DOMA Is Unconsitutional, But DOMA Continues To Be Enforced
Given the breaking news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will no longer defend Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), I wanted to let you know what that really means to the two lawsuits GLAD currently has in the federal courts trying to overturn DOMA—Gill and Pedersen .
The DOJ has concluded that in cases involving sexual orientation there needs to be heightened protection since gay and lesbian people have been historically discriminated against, and that any attempt to discriminate against this class must be based on a very good reason. The DOJ has also determined that, as far as DOMA is concerned, no such good reason exists and so has found that DOMA is unconstitutional.
However, this is just the opinion of the DOJ. Congress and other groups still have an opportunity to defend the constitutionality of DOMA in our cases, and so the cases will continue in the courts and while they do DOMA will continue to be enforced by the Obama administration. So until these cases are over or Congress repeals DOMA, you still need to file your federal income tax returns as single, you will still be charged imputed income on spousal health benefits, you will not be able to get Social Security spousal benefits, and on and on. And, GLAD will continue to share the stories of gay and lesbian people who are impacted by DOMA. If you’d like to tell your story, please visit www.glad.org/doma/stories-share
I look forward to the day when I can write in this blog that DOMA no longer exists, and that same-sex married couples have access to all the federal laws that pertain to marriage.