Millions of LGBTIQ Americans are rejoicing around the country with news the US Supreme Court ruled the Defence of Marriage Act (DoMA) unconstitutional.
The ruling of 5-4 against DoMA showed that part of the act that acknowledged only heterosexual couples and marriages was unconstitutional, excluding people of equal liberty at a Federal level.
DoMA was signed in by former President Bill Clinton in 1996; it has prevented government agencies from recognising same-sex marriage since then.
Any couples that have married in the 12 states that recognise same-sex marriage will now receive recognition at a Federal level as well.
Bi-national couples will be packing their bags as we speak, the Federal recognition means that those who previously could only see their partners on alternative visas can apply to immigrate on a de facto basis. Those that are lawfully married can now seek sponsorship for green cards.
Obama naturally welcomed the development, stating that the act was entrenched in discrimination, and ‘treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people’.
“The Supreme Court has righted that is wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal – and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well”, he said.
Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage in California, was also deemed invalid, making it once again legal to marry in California.
Nadine Walker
