Yesterday, President Obama announced that the Department of Justice would no longer defend against legal challenges to the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It’s an acknowledgment of what many already knew: that DOMA is unconstitutional and un-American. On its own, that’s a big step for equality in this country
But it also means government lawyers will no longer spend time or taxpayer money fighting to keep millions of Americans from having the right to marry. The effort put into upholding DOMA was a stain on the American legal system, and its end marks a turning point in the fight for equality.
The law is still on the books, and the fight to end legalized discrimination in America will continue, but yesterday’s decision is an important victory.
