DOMA has been struck down

[quote]5-4 per Kennedy. Roberts dissents. Scalia dissents. Equal protection. DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.[/quote] The opinion on DOMA is [url=http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf] here[/url] [quote]To be clear: Windsor (the case regarding DOMA) does not establish a constitutional right to same sex marriage. It was important to the outcome that the couple in the case was legally married under state law. The equal protection violation arose from Congress's disrespecting that decision by New York to allow the marriage[/quote] From what I understand, since DOMA has been struck down, the federal government is now required to give over 1100 previously denied [b]federal[/b] benefits to couples that are in same-sex marriages. Previously, same-sex couples could only receive benefits from the state they lived in, provided that state recognized same-sex marriages. It seems that they dismissed the Prop. 8 case on no standing grounds. I believe that this means that the California will have gay marriage again but it won't necessarily be legal in other states. Update: Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I was unsure how this would affect same-sex couples that were married legally in a state but moved to a state that doesn't recognize same-sex marriage. I was initially suspecting that those states may be required to allow the couple to receive federal benefits but that unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case: [url=http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-doma-repeal-could-change-financial-landscape-20130626,0,5214701.story]Link[/url] [quote]But the Supreme Court's DOMA ruling apparently won't mean that same-sex couples in states that don't recognize their marriages will qualify for federal benefits, said Kyle Young, first vice president for Wells Fargo Advisors, who has mostly gay and lesbian clients in the New York and Los Angeles areas. [b]The ruling did not require states without same sex-marriage to recognize such marriages performed in other states.[/b] “It simplifies it for some but makes it more complex for others,” Young said. [b]“Federal benefits are only going to be accessible to those in states that offer marriage to same-sex couples.”[/b] Most states in the country do not recognize same-sex marriage, and some allow same-sex civil unions, but not marriage. Alexander Popovich, a wealth advisor at JPMorgan Chase & Co., likened the DOMA ruling to a “dust storm” full of implications. “It's going to be a while before everything settles down and [you] figure out how you navigate through all of it,” Popovich said in an interview before the ruling.[/quote] *sigh* DOMA being repealed is still great news but in the honorable words of Dr. Richtofen [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=b8Xvq46SpBY#t=5s]This is not a spring, this is a marathon![/url] So we still have a lot to do.