Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts in May of 2004.
The Supreme Court this morning struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that the 1996 law restricting the federal definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples only is unconstitutional.
Under the law, same-sex couples legally married at the state level were ineligible for a number of federal benefits, including the option to jointly file tax returns and to receive Social Security survivors' benefits.
In the opinion, embedded below, Justice Anthony Kennedy writes:
By this dynamic DOMA undermines both the public and private significance of state sanctioned same-sex marriages; for it tells those couples, and all the world, that their otherwise valid marriages are unworthy of federal recognition. This places same-sex couples in an unstable position of being in a second-tier marriage. The differentiation demeans the couple, whose moral and sexual choices the Constitution protects, see Lawrence, 539 U. S. 558, and whose relationship the State has sought to dignify. And it humiliates tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts in May of 2004.
We'd like to hear what today's ruling means to our readers -- particularly same-sex couples who have been legally married in Massachusetts.
- How will the ruling impact your household finances?
- What aspects of the law had most significantly impacted your life?
- And, what does the ruling mean in terms of how you view your marriage, and your relationship?
Supreme Court Ruling: Defense of Marriage Act by Greg Saulmon