Mass. challenges federal Defense of Marriage Act

[Leo The Cleo]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/mass_to_challen.html

Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to legalize gay marriage, has become the first to challenge the constitutionality of a federal law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, saying Congress intruded into a matter that should be left to individual states.

"Our familes, our communities, and even our economy have seen the many important benefits that have come from recognizing equal marriage rights and, frankly, no downside," Attorney General Martha Coakley said this afternoon at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. "However, we have also seen how many of our married residents and their families are being hurt by a discriminatory, unprecedented, and, we believe, unconstitutional law."

The suit filed in US District Court in Boston claims that the Congress, in enacting the DOMA, "overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people."

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which opposes gay marriage, said, "We believe the suit will have no credibility in the federal courts. The federal courts have already ruled that the DOMA is constitutional."

[BlooInBloo]

1. Good job, Murphy.

[Leo The Cleo]

2. I wonder what will come of this

[BlooInBloo]

3. This is one of the 1000 cuts that this particular state-instituted bigotry will die from.