DOMA and Massachusetts

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed a federal lawsuit against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). She took this action because she feels DOMA interferes with the state’s sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents.

Massachusetts became the first state in the country in 2003 to legalize same-sex marriage. By challenging DOMA, it is quite likely that what was started in the Bay State will spread to the rest of the country. As I describe in my book, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality, gay activists have wanted to use to courts (and willing legislatures) to redefine marriage and remove any legal impediment to same-sex marriage.

One of those impediments is DOMA. Back in 1996, the United State Congress passed the federal Defense of Marriage Act. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law. DOMA defines marriage “for all purposes of federal law” as the union of one man and one woman. It also clarified how states would have to apply the “full faith and credit clause” of the U.S. Constitution concerning same-sex marriage.

It is interesting that the attorney general is essentially using a conservative argument (the rights of states) to achieve a liberal end (same-sex marriage). The argument in Congress back in 1996 was that the national government had to address this issue because various states (like Hawaii and Alaska) were attempting to redefine marriage.

The attorney general argues that the federal government has refused to fund health benefits and veterans’ burials for same-sex partners in Massachusetts because it violates DOMA. The federal lawsuit effectively expands the fight against traditional marriage by demanding that federal taxpayers pay benefits in this state (and eventually in every other state).

It is likely that the appeals court will rule in favor of Massachusetts, and that will send the case to the Supreme Court. President Obama has condemned DOMA and has promised to eliminate it. A spokesman for the Department of Justice also condemned it.

Unless proponents of traditional marriage stand strong, DOMA is doomed. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.