It was another jam-packed Pride weekend made more joyful this year as the LGBT community celebrated two historic U.S. Supreme Court opinions that are the first step in what will someday be legal same-sex marriage throughout the country.
By striking down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, made it clear that same-sex couples deserve equal rights. During oral arguments in March, Kennedy was concerned about how the children of such couples are affected by the federal law. He followed that up with an opinion that is vintage Kennedy: "DOMA instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others. The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity."
Section 3 of DOMA prohibited the federal government from extending benefits to married same-sex couples that are given to opposite-sex couples, mostly regarding Social Security and retirement. Another big issue affected by the ruling is immigration, and binational same-sex couples now have reason to cheer as federal officials are now beginning to process applications for permanent residency for the foreign-born partners of married gays and lesbians. Last week, immigration officials in Florida approved the first green card for a gay man from Bulgaria who is married to an American man. After last week's court decisions, President Barack Obama said his administration would act swiftly and it did in this case. Administration officials are also moving quickly in a number of other arenas, including gay and lesbian federal employees.
The demise of Prop 8 is long overdue, and while we were as surprised as anyone that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay Friday afternoon, we were overjoyed to see marriage equality return to San Francisco City Hall and all other counties. Apparently Attorney General Kamala Harris had to personally speak with a clerk in Los Angeles, where one of the plaintiff couples, Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami, was waiting for their marriage license, but in the end it all went well and they were married Friday, just as their counterparts, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, were married in San Francisco by Harris.
By now, every county clerk should have the new directives to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and we certainly hope there are no incidents in which officials deny licenses because of their personal beliefs. Prop 8's proponents unsuccessfully tried to have the stay put back in place but the law is clear and the case is over.
Of the two decisions, DOMA is more far-reaching as it impacts couples across the country. And it will likely spur new actions in some of the 37 other states where same-sex marriage is currently illegal as couples sue to have their marriages recognized.
But overturning Prop 8 is also a huge achievement. While the high court did not explicitly rule that there is a constitutional right to marriage, it did say that the Prop 8 proponents lacked standing to defend the case, as they faced no specific harm, which is necessary in order to be a party in a lawsuit. This is the argument we have been making to the naysayers all along. Allowing same-sex couples to marry does no harm to your marriage. Now the Supreme Court has decreed that to be true. By letting the lower court ruling stand, it's clear that once rights are granted to a group of people, they cannot be stripped away at the ballot box.
More change is coming, in what is beginning to be the new normal �" more equality for all.