Landmark ruling would force U.S. to recognize 'gay marriage'
In a landmark decision that could force the federal government to recognize "gay marriage," a U.S. district judge Thursday overturned part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that the government cannot constitutionally distinguish between traditional marriage and same-sex "marriage."
Judge Joseph L. Tauro's ruling in a pair of lawsuits invalidates Section 3 of the law, which says that for the purpose of federal law, marriage "means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."
It is the first ruling of its kind, and if upheld, will place the United States alongside the 10 or so other countries worldwide that recognize homosexual "marriage." It would force the government to recognize "gay marriages" from Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa and Massachusetts, and by extension grant federal benefits, such as tax breaks and federal employee spousal insurance,...
