EQUAL RIGHTS AND THE SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court recently granted review of the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Prop 8. Accordingly, the full range of marriage issues will now be before the high court. This is a very exciting and historical time. The decisions are expected to have the same profound impact on gay rights as Roe v. Wade did for a Women’s Right To Choose. The world awaits with cautious optimism, for equal rights to be extended to all people, guaranteeing the fundamental right to love and marry who s(he) wants to.
DOMA CASE:
In this case, Edie Windsor’s and Thea Spyer, were a couple for 44 years. Their relationship started in 1965. They got engaged in 1967, but could not marry until the year 2007. Thea was diagnosed with M.S. in 1977. The couple remained together until Thea’s death in 2009.
Thea left her possessions, including the apartment they shared for decades, to Edie. New York considered Edie and Thea as married, but DOMA required the federal government to treat them as legal strangers. The result was that Edie received a Federal Estate tax bill in the amount of $363,000. If Edie was a traditional widow, the estate tax would be 0. Discrimination? You bet.
Edie decided not to let this go without a challenge. The two lower Federal Courts have struck down DOMA in her case, and now the Supreme Court will give us the final word.
PROP 8 CASE:
Unlike the DOMA case, the Plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case want to get married. The court will review California’s gay marriage ban, which passed in a 2008 ballot initiative months after California’s Supreme Court had legalized same-sex unions and thousands of Californians had already gotten married. Two Federal Courts have already struck down Prop 8 as discriminatory, leaving the U.S. Supremes to make the final decision.
Will the Supreme court rule that the right to marry is a fundamental constitutional right?
If the Plaintiffs prevail in the Prop 8 case, states will no longer be able to ban gay marriages.
Justice Anthony Kennedy has a record of ruling in favor of gay rights. In the case of Lawrence v. Texas, he stated that:“The liberty protected by the Constitution allows homosexual persons the right to choose to enter upon relations in the confines of their homes and their own private lives and still retain their dignity as free persons.”
Because of Justice Kennedy’s history on this issue, some legal experts think there is a very good chance DOMA will be struck down.
Gay or Straight, this is a Civil Rights Issue and any and all forms of discrimination cannot be tolerated. We look forward to these landmark decisions.