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| Marriage and the law |
Mass. files lawsuit against federal marriage law, Associated Press/APonline/D. LAVOIE
BOSTON - Massachusetts has challenged the federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, calling it "discriminatory and overreaching," and supporters say other states could follow suit.
The state, the first to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over the Defense of Marriage Act. The law interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Massachusetts is the first state to challenge the law. Its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, says the approximately 16,000 same-sex couples who have married in Massachusetts since the state began performing gay marriages in 2004 are being unfairly denied federal benefits given to heterosexual couples.
"They are entitled to equal treatment under the laws regardless of whether they are gay or straight," Coakley said at a news conference.
The lawsuit also argues that the federal law requires the state to violate the constitutional rights of its citizens by treating married heterosexual couples and married same-sex couples differently when determining eligibility for Medicaid benefits and when determining whether the spouse of a veteran can be buried in a Massachusetts veterans' cemetery.
"In enacting DOMA, Congress overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people," the lawsuit states.
The defendants named in the suit include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the federal government.
President Barack Obama has pledged to work to repeal the law, although gay rights activists criticized the administration last month after Justice Department lawyers defended it in a court brief. White House aides said they were doing their jobs to support a law that is on the books.
In Maine, the Stand for Marriage Maine coalition said it took only four weeks to gather more than the 55,087 signatures necessary to put gay marriage to a vote.
The Maine law to legalize gay marriage had been scheduled to go into effect Sept. 12. It will be put on hold after the signatures are submitted and certified by the secretary of state's office. Voters will then decide in November whether the law should stand.
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My own thoughts:
Filing a suit against the federal government of the U.S.A. is the most outrageous thing these people can do to force the government to yield to their will. A marriage was created by God not by humans. It was written in the Jewish scriptures called the Bible. Therefore what they are doing is challenging the word of God and insisting on changing his mandate that has been observed for centuries. What right do they think they have to put God on judgment?
This evil and twisted notion can only come from the mind of Satan. Anything that God creates he defiles. There are other ways they can use to protect themselves and still get the so call "rights" they feel they deserve as the original marriage has. They can go to a lawyer and draw wills, sign all kinds of papers that put power upon each other and determines who get what in case they want to separate and go they merry way later on. They can also have the pre-nuptial agreements made to protect each other from the other.
As a tax papers and sick of all the "bull" that we tax payers have to put up with, our dollars are used for the most illicit things that if citizens was ask to donate most would not do it.
What is next? Changing the Constitution of America.
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Posted by airsjc on 2009-07-09 07:30:38 | Rating: | Views: 15
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