It was a good day. I just hope people don't start a trend of asking "Where were you when you heard that DOMA had been struck down?" Well, I was working, and used a bathroom break to check Twitter for the responses, because I knew the announcement was due at 9a.m. central time.
After returning, I picked an opportune moment during the shift to inform my coworkers, "oh, by the way did you hear? DOMA was struck down!" I did not tell them that I had just looked it up while in the john.
There were many celebrations, and some pretty good quotes throughout the day. When asked for a response to Michele Bachman's anti-gay tirade about the decisions, Nancy Pelosi quipped, "Who cares." Milwaukee's Cream City Foundation president, Paul Fairchild, had the same answer when asked how he thought Julaine Appling and other gay rights opponents in Wisconsin felt about the rulings.
There were even statements from Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud, praising the decisions. These two groups were fairly silent during the hearings and rallies in March. A Republican friend of mine argued during that time that he supports marriage equality, but that DOMA was neither constitutional nor unconstitutional, because the Constitution does not say that marriage is a right. Of course, the arguments that won the day were that the Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law, and if the law provides benefits and protections under the status of marriage, it cannot be denied to some based on sexual orientation. I suspect that this opinion stems from the party line against "activist judges," who do seem to shoot down a lot of the party's favorite legislation. Perhaps they can look to Tuesday's decision regarding the Voting Rights Act as a case where a difficult (and in this case unpopular) decision had to be made based on the Constitution. (I'll need a separate post to discuss that one)
In both LCR and GOProud responses, the focus was on a victory for states' rights. OK, I'll take it. But then what does that mean for Wisconsin? Immediately, nothing. At a celebration last night, a speaker (sorry, I forget which one) mentioned that she and her wife, married in Massachusetts but residing here, might be eligible for some of the federal benefits, but which ones won't be known for some time. Each of the 1,138 items under federal marriage will be reviewed individually. It also remains to be seen whether attempting to claim any federal benefits will cause them to be prosecuted under a Wisconsin statute that makes it illegal for couples who could not legally marry in Wisconsin to get married in another state and come back.
Since Wisconsin has an amendment on its state constitution banning same sex marriage, or any similar arrangement or recognition of same sex relationships, the DOMA decision does not have a direct impact here. I wonder what effect the Prop 8 decision has on a potential legal challenge to to the 2006 amendment. The Supreme Court declined to rule on it, which simply upheld a lower court ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.
The direct impact on Wisconsin is the momentum it gives us to keep working toward full equal recognition our relationships. Harvey Milk said "you gotta give 'em hope." Yesterday, we got hope back. Today, we drive on.
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