Where Do We Go From Here?
Where Do We Go From Here?
Now that a U.S. Judge has ruled DOMA unconstitutional, there’s been a great deal of talk over how it’s the governments responsibility to appeal that decision and defend the law, which is correct…the Obama administration does have a responsibility to do just that.
But what’s going to be the outcome of this is anyone’s guess. I would dare say of all the scenario’s I’ve read, there’s yet to be one that has depicted the exact course of thing to come.
However, Marc Ambindner has a piece on The Atlantic which I think is a pretty good guestimation of how this might play out, whereas he suggest whatever does happen, is going to take its own sweet time.
According to Ambinder:
So how will President Obama’s Justice Department finesse its commitment to gay rights with its precedence-rooted commitment to defend the Defense of Marriage Act? The answer isn’t clear, but what is clear is that Justice will take its sweet time trying to figure a way out.
He also brings up some a very good point about DOMA overall, which leads me to wonder why it took so long to challenge the discriminatory law in the first place.
Generally, the equal protection case is seen as the strongest, because DOMA was signed into law by politicians who wanted to make sure that gay couples could not get access to federal benefits if their states legalized same-sex marriages or civil unions. Its intent was to deprive a class of people rights afforded to another class.
Now I could be wrong, and please correct me if I am, but to date, I wasn’t aware that on the federal level the LGBT community has been recognized as a class of people.
If this is the case, then one may quickly deduce that is where we need to go next, is to push for becoming a class of the population. Once that occurs, then there won’t be an argument over DOMA, DADT, marriage or anything else. If the LGBT community is recognized as a “class” then discrimination will be the only only argument needed for ending discrimination.
Thoughts?
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