COMMON DREAMS– As same-sex
couples in New York prepare this weekend to tie the knot, their brethren in
Massachusetts — the first state to legalize gay marriage — have some advice.
Enjoy the wedding because afterward, they will realize that there are 1,000 or so benefits gay couples can’t get because of the federal defense of Marriage Act: Joint federal tax returns, federal health plans for spouses, and access to spouses’ federal pensions.
“Let them enjoy their joy, but they will soon realize that their marriage is not being seen equally at the federal level,” said Dorene Bowe-Shulman, who married her longtime partner, Mary, in 2004 in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage.
New York’s law takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, with the state where the gay rights movement began more than 40 years ago joining five other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing same-sex marriage.
While many married gay couples are hoping for the repeal of the 1996 law, known as DOMA, the measure’s supporters are pushing back, arguing that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that repeal would violate the views of most Americans.
“That definition of marriage has been the position of the nation for many, many years, with the raising of children and the benefit to those children from a male-female household,” said Carrie Gordon Earll, a spokeswoman at the advocacy group Focus on the Family.
DOMA says that traditional marriage “is something we value as a nation,” she said.
As gay couples prepare for their weddings in New York, the largest state yet to legalize same-sex marriage, their counterparts in Massachusetts are telling them that their push for equal rights doesn’t end with the ability to get married.
Dorene Bowe-Shulman and her partner were among a group of gay couples and widowers who filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of DOMA, which prevents the federal government from recognizing gay marriages.
Read more about Mass. Gay Couples to N.Y.: DOMA Still Denies You Benefits
© 2011 Associated Press
Join Al Franken to repeal DOMA! Sign your name to the petition: http://www.alfranken.com/index.php/splash/doma_0711
Photo by Flickr user Mad Hausfrau
