Supreme Court Gay Marriage Ruling: The Implications

by Todd Richissin

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Wednesday 5 - 4 that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. The law had barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his opinion: "The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity. ... 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.”

The ruling means that same-sex couples will have access to more than 1,100 benefits and rights currently enjoyed by spouses in heterosexual marriages, Reuters reports.

In the same hour, the court also ruled it would not take up a case on Prop 8, a same-sex marriage ban approved by California voters in 2008, deferring to a lower-court ruling that overturned the ban, the New York Times reported. The decision means same-sex couples will likely be able to marry again in the state.

Both decisions are sure to be an issue in Virginia's 2013 governor's race.
A day before the expected ruling, Democrats were working hard to tie the issue to GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, who co-authored a January brief on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage regarding California's Proposition 8, one of the two cases on the matter before the nation's highest court.

On Tuesday, state Democratic leaders told reporters that Cuccinelli has worked to keep gay and lesbian Virginians as "second-class citizens." His running mate, the Rev. E.W. Jackson, has called gays “very sick people psychologically” and suggested a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Cuccinelli's Democratic opponent, Terry McAluiffe, has said he supports civil marriage for same-sex couples but that a measure to reverse the ban on same-sex unions would have to pass the Virginia House of Delegates, which is controlled by Republicans.

Before the court were two issues on gay marriage: the constitutionality of a federal law that denies benefits to same-sex married couples and a California state law that bans gay marriage. 

In 2006, Virginians voted to amend the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. In the 2013 session, a group of 22 Virginia delegates, all Democrats, rallied to repeal that amendment, but failed.

 A poll on gay marriage published last month by The Washington Post, though, showed attitudes have changed sharply, with 56 percent of Virginians feeling gay marriage should be legal.