Mass. sues over Defense of Marriage Act

President Obama pledged during the campaign to push for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, but has focused on the economy, healthcare, other issues since taking office.

But more pressure could come from Massachusetts, which today became the first state to sue over the 1996 law, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and which allows states to ignore gay marriages performed in other states.

That unfairly excludes more than 16,000 Massachusetts same-sex couples, who have married since the Bay State in 2004 became the first to legalize gay marriage, from "critically important rights and protections based on marital status," Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

The lawsuit (read it here) asserts that DOMA is unconstitutional because it interferes with the commonwealth’s "sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents" and also alleges that DOMA exceeds Congress’s authority because Congress does not have a valid reason for requiring Massachusetts to treat married same-sex couples differently from all other married couples.

“Today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts takes an important step toward ensuring equality and fairness for its citizens and maintaining our authority as a sovereign state,” Coakley said in a statement. “DOMA affects residents of Massachusetts in very real and very negative ways by depriving access to important economic safety nets and other protections that couples count on when they marry and that help them to take care of one another and their families. DOMA also directly and fundamentally interferes with Massachusetts’s right as a state sovereign to determine the marital status of its residents.”

Besides Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire allow or will soon permit same-sex marriages. California recognizes the marriage licenses of 18,000 same-sex couples prior to the passage of Proposition 8 last November. Two other states, New York and Rhode Island, as well as the District of Columbia honor gay marriages from Massachusetts.

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the US Justice Department, said: "The president supports legislative repeal of the defense of marriage act because it prevents LGBT couples from being granted equal rights and benefits. We will review this case.’’

While gay rights groups applauded the lawsuit, conservatives criticized Coakley, who harbors higher political ambitions, perhaps the US Senate.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins president accused her of "expanding the fight against traditional marriage by demanding that federal taxpayers from all 50 states subsidize same-sex 'marriage' benefits in Massachusetts.

"American taxpayers should hold onto their wallets," he said in a statement. "Should this lawsuit succeed and President Obama's healthcare reform pass without an explicit ban on tax-funded abortions, taxpayers face the very real possibility of being forced to subsidize both same-sex 'marriages' and abortion coverage within a universal healthcare plan.

"Recognizing the ongoing threat to marriage, voters in the last election continued to define marriage in their state constitutions as the union of one man and one woman. We advise the US Justice Department to fulfill its constitutional duties and continue its defense of DOMA against such frivolous lawsuits. We also urge any federal courts that hear this case to dismiss it and preserve the right of the people to decide such important public policy decisions."