Gay lobby’s next target: Benefits in all 50 states

[Geee]

The Hill:

Gay rights lobbyists plan to use their victory at the Supreme Court to push legislation that would ensure married same-sex couples are eligible for federal benefits in all 50 states.

Activists triumphed at the Supreme Court on Wednesday when the majority ruled the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a Clinton-era law that had prevented gay couples from receiving federal benefits, is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

But the groups said their victory was incomplete because it’s not clear from the court ruling if married gay couples would lose their benefits if they move to one of the 37 states where gay marriage is illegal.

That means another major lobbying battle is at hand for groups on both sides of the marriage debate.

“What the Supreme Court basically did this morning was put a stake in the heart of DOMA, but it didn’t kill DOMA yet,” said Jo Deutsch, the federal director for Freedom to Marry.

Conservative and religious groups that oppose same-sex marriage said they would seek to make the issue moot by passing an amendment to the Constitution that would ban gay marriage nationwide.

[Geee]

Supreme Court decision triggers massive overhaul of regulations

 

 

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ban on federal benefits for gay couples is sure to trigger a mammoth effort to change hundreds of regulations and laws across the breadth of government.

The scope of the high court’s ruling goes far beyond Social Security checks and joint tax returns. Its implications extend to everything from policies at the Pentagon to the immigration reform bill now being debated in Congress.

Within hours of the ruling, President Obama directed Attorney General Eric Holder and other members of his Cabinet to begin poring over relevant federal statutes and regulations that might need to be adjusted in light of the 5-4 decision to strike down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

In the court’s view, the trove of potentially applicable regulations is vast.

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/administration/307931-obama-orders-sweeping-review-of-federal-marriage-regulations

[Draggingtree]

Gay Squirrel!

 

June 26th, 2013 - 3:33 pm

 

By Andrew Klavan

 

If I could reach into the heart of humankind and pluck one flaw from its unknowable depths, it would be our seemingly irresistible desire to tell one another what to do. Think of the results! The Democratic Party would vanish in an instant. The federal budget would shrink to the size of a compact car payment. And all religions would be Christianity at its best. We could still continue to enjoy our pride, lust, greed and gluttony while feeling morally superior to our neighbors’ pride, lust, greed and gluttony. We just wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. It would be like — oh, I don’t know — like living in America again. Free country. To each his own. That’s what makes for horse races. And all that.

 

I’m not a lawyer and so will read what lawyers say for a few days before forming any opinion of the Supreme Court’s latest decisions on gay marriage. But as for the likely practical results of those decisions, I can tell you already: I don’t care. I believe the advent of no-fault divorce gutted marriage of any beneficent legal meaning, and so the government should simply get out of the business altogether and leave the whole thing to contract law and church ceremony.

Hell, I’m an Episcopalian. In my church, if you sleep with a goat while taking communion during Lent, you get, like, a time out. We’re just not very strict about these things. http://pjmedia.com/andrewklavan/2013/06/26/gay-squirrel/

[pollyannaish]

I believe the advent of no-fault divorce gutted marriage of any beneficent legal meaning, and so the government should simply get out of the business altogether and leave the whole thing to contract law and church ceremony

If we truly want to save marriage as holy, I believe this is our best bet. We will have to give up our benefits but I am ok with that. Go to a flat tax. No deductions no social engineering. This is all about the money. It's time to set some boundaries.