This past week, I’m sure many of you had red and pink equal signs all over your Facebook newsfeed. It’s no secret that gay rights, especially those pertaining to marriage equality, are a major social issue in this day and age. This past week, the Supreme Court began deciding whether or not to strike down Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. You may have heard about these things, whether on Facebook or in the news, but you may not know exactly what they are and what it would mean if they were passed.
Proposition 8 is a California ballot proposition stating that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The United States Supreme Court must decide whether or not Proposition 8 is constitutional. According to the California Supreme Court, the proposition is unconstitutional because of the decision of in re Marriage Cases stating that any legislation limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the rights of same-sex couples and cannot be used to prevent same-sex couples from marrying; it was passed anyway after the November 2008 elections. After the passing of the proposition, many people protested across the United States. On August 4, 2010, US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the proposition seeing that it was unconstitutional. On February 7, 2012, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, upheld Walker’s decision, claiming the proposition is unconstitutional. Now, it is up to the US Supreme Court to make the final decision on whether or not it is constitutional.
The Defense of Marriage Act is a US federal law that only recognizes opposite-sex marriages. This law was enacted in September 1996 after being passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate and was then signed by President Bill Clinton. Since then, Clinton has supported the repeal of DOMA and Obama and his administration, while they enforce it, they will not defend it in court. The US Supreme Court started talks this past week in order to decide whether or not to defend DOMA or to overturn it. The Defense of Marriage Act not only prevents same-sex marriage it also prevents same-sex couples from receiving the benefits that heterosexual married couples receive. Things such as filing joint tax returns and Social Security survivor’s benefits are not recognized for same-sex couples.
For both, decisions probably will not be made until June 2013. Keep checking the news to see the final outcome.