Well here is the 10th Amendment or you!  

What’s Being Discussed?

+ Massachusetts Judge rules that the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in the Clinton presidency and when no states offered legalized marriage for same-sex couples, is an intrusion on states’ rights, or the 10th Amendment.

+ Currently 5 states (Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont) and the District of Columbia allow these unions.  Other states, including New York and Rhode Island, recognize them.

+ Since DOMA prevents the federal government from recognizing the validity of these unions, same-sex (married) couples are unable to receive social security survivor payments or spousal burial in military cemeteries, among other items.   

+ In the first case, Coakley v. Department of Justice, Judge Tauro said that DOMA infringes on states’ rights.  A number of legal experts and scholars challenge this conclusion based on the government’s oversight and support of health case and other marriage programs.

+ In the second case, the Judge, based on a challenge from a Gay Rights’ group, found that the definition of marriage (between only a man and a woman) violates the national equal protection clause.  

+ The Times notes that the appeal and challenge process may take years to find a resolution, however this can only be a strong step forward in the proper and an egalitarian direction.