Various media sources are reporting
that President Barack Obama has called the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) unconstitutional and has called on the Department of Justice
to end its defense of the Clinton-era law that prohibits federal
agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian
couples.
Attorney
General Eric Holder said in statement that the president has
“concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married
same-sex couples, … is unconstitutional.”
“Given that conclusion, the President
has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such
cases,” Holder added. “I fully concur with the President's
determination.”
The administration had faced criticism
for appealing two Massachusetts-based challenges to the law. In both
cases, a federal judge had ruled Section 3 of DOMA to be
unconstitutional.
Gay marriage activists cheered the
announcement.
“Freedom to Marry applauds the
President and the Attorney General for acknowledging that sexual
orientation discrimination has no place in American life and must be
presumed unconstitutional, recognizing that discriminatory laws like
so-called DOMA must be looked at with skeptical eyes, not rubber
stamped,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, in a
statement.
“This [is] a momentous step forward
toward Freedom to Marry's goal of ending federal marriage
discrimination and fully protecting all loving and committed
couples,” he added.