U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down DOMA

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling for LGBT rights today by striking down the Defense of Marriage Act's (DOMA) provision prohibiting the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages as unconstutional. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor can found here. The decision concluded DOMA amounted to the “deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.” The decision found “DOMA instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others” and that DOMA was unconstitutional, because there was no legitimate purpose for disparaging those whom states “sought to protect in personhood and dignity.”