The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has criticized a
Treasury Department decision to allow legally married gay and lesbian
couples to file joint tax returns, regardless of whether the state
they reside in recognizes such unions.
In a statement released Thursday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew
said that its “ruling assures legally married same-sex couples that
they can move freely throughout the country knowing that their
federal filing status will not change.”
“The Treasury Department is grossly overstepping its authority,”
NOM President Brian Brown said in blog post. “This is a nation of
laws. Only Congress has the authority to change the law.”
“The Obama administration is intent on forcing same-sex
'marriage' on an unwilling public,” he
added.
Chris Plante, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of
NOM, told Newsmax
TV to expect lawsuits stemming from the decision.
“There will be a myriad of lawsuits,” Plante predicted. “This
ruling creates all sorts of confusion and it will result in lawsuits,
it will result in states not sure what to do, and the fact of the
matter is states do have a right to define marriage as they see fit.
This is still in Section 2 of the Defense of Marriage Act.”
“We need to define marriage as one man and one woman not because
we are actually creating it but because that's what it is and
government has a purpose investing in marriage as one man and one
woman because it creates the best place to raise children and the
next generation,” he added.
(Related: Gay
spouses have equal access to nursing facilities through Medicare, HHS
memo states.)