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Thursday, July 8, 2010

States' Rights Victory - Judge Overturns U.S. Gay-Marriage Ban.

Somehow, we suspect Tea Partiers won’t be applauding this victory for states' rights: A U.S. District Court judge in Boston has overturned the federal ban on gay marriage, saying that it interferes with the states’ right to define marriage. Massachusetts was suing the federal government because it says the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevented gay married couples in the state from receiving benefits like Medicaid.

But the point is - this is exactly what the conservative right argues for time and time again - states' rights.

The AP is reporting that a federal judge ruled Thursday in Boston that the federal law banning gay marriage is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define the institution and therefore denies married gay couples some federal benefits.

The state had argued the law denied benefits such as Medicaid to gay married couples in Massachusetts, where same-sex unions have been legal since 2004.


Tauro agreed and said the act forces Massachusetts to discriminate against its own citizens in order to be eligible for federal funding in federal-state partnerships.

Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, called Tauro's ruling "judicial activism" and said Tauro was a "rogue judge." Gay marriage advocates will keep pushing their agenda in the courts, she said, but noted voters consistently have rejected gay marriage at the ballot box, including in a recent California vote.  "We can't allow the lowest common denominator states, like Massachusetts, to set standards for the country," Lafferty said.
 
I am not sure what Ms. Lafferty exactly means by her statements, other than if you don't agree with her position you must be the lowest common denominator (the irony in her analogy is that making a change in a number based upon the lowest common denominator results in NO CHANGE to the number.)

3 comments:

  1. This definitely is a states' rights issue and Massachusetts, the birthplace of American education is no common denominator. Massachusetts as every patriot knows is also where the Revolution started.

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  2. Maybe the case will go to the activist Republican Supreme Court.

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  3. It is no wonder suicide among our teen americans is at its highest level ever. Young gay children have to see adults fighting so hard in an attempt to stop two, loving, adults for having a legal, committed marriage like all other people who love each other. They have so much to look forward to with these senseless and discriminatory obstacles. Thoughts of "Why bother, and "It would it would be easier to hang myself.", make sense when they are faced with such a hateful and unaccepting world. I applaud all those fighting for civil rights for all. I especially applaud heterosexual americans who already have the right to marry but continue to fight for the minorities rights. It is one thing to say you're OK with it, it is another to stand up and be heard and take action to help our fellow citizens.

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