2013 LGBT - A great year for gay rights
The ‘Defense (sic) of Marriage Act’ is overturned
Well, not all of DOMA was overturned, but the biggest and most important part was. On 26 June 2013, n a 5-4 ruling for the United States vs Windsor, theSupreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for the Federal government to discriminate against legally enacted same sex marriages. With Section 3 gone, although there was some confusion initially, it has resulted in a whole host of newly guaranteed Federal civil rights for gay and lesbian couples — both American citizens and those who wish to be.
Its ramifications have been felt in immigration, federal benefits, federal taxes, eligibility for federal programs, and Social Security survivor benefits. In fact, the 1100+ federal rights and privileges are being cited in case after case to demonstrate the harm in preventing gay and lesbian couples from enjoying legal civil marriage.
State after state joins the marriage equality bandwagon
In just the last year, we went from 10 states and the District of Columbia to a definite 17 states with marriage equality:
Rhode Island: Legislature upgraded civil unions to marriage on May 2nd
Delaware: : Same, on May 7
Minnesota: Legislature passed gay marriage equality on May 14th
New Jersey: State Supreme Court declined to overturn a lower court ruling, upgrading civil unions to marriage on October 21st
Hawaii: Legislature upgraded civil unions to marriage on November 13th
Illinois: Same, on November 20th, taking effect June 1st 2014
New Mexico: State Supreme Court ruled for gay marriage on December 19th
On top of this:
In May, Colorado joined the other Civil Union states — Oregon, Nevada, and Wisconsin — but all of these are facing court challenges because the partial DOMA overturn means these couples will not enjoy federal marriage benefits.
A federal judge in Ohio began the chipping away at that state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage by ordering a death certificate list a couple as married.
And as we noted the other day, Utah (!!!?) became the 18th state with full gay marriage equality. After Federal Judge Shelby’s ruling, both he and the 10th Circuit declined to issue a state. Unless or until the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, gay marriage is a reality in one of the most unlikely places imaginable in America.
Judges in Michigan and Pennsylvania will soon hear cases challenging those states’ bans on gay marriage in the coming year.
Where is this all going? Probably and inevitably a revisit to the U.S. Supreme Court. But for now, as of year end 2013, the gay marriage map in America looks like this: