For members of the LGBT community and their supporters the issue of same-sex marriage has been at the forefront of the fight for equality for decades now.
Fortunately, a recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS, finally laid the issue to rest by ruling that marriage is a “fundamental right”, meaning that individual states can no longer ban same-sex marriage.
Prior to that decision, however, another ruling by SCOTUS found the then current federal definition of marriage to be unconstitutional.
Given these historical decisions by SCOTUS, does same-sex marriage change the definition of marriage in the U.S.? The answer to that question is that it most certainly has changed the federal definition of marriage!
The issue of same-sex marriage in the United States was not an issue, interestingly, until the early 1970s. Prior to that time state marriage laws did not specifically require partners applying for a marriage license to be a man and a woman.
Apparently, it did not occur to any to make the distinction until a same-sex couple applied for a marriage license in Minnesota.
The license was denied and the couple filed a lawsuit.
That lawsuit spurred other states to review their marriage laws which, in turn, led to one state after another passing legislation banning same-sex marriage or amending their state Constitutions to prohibit same-sex marriage. The LGBT community fought back during the 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, the federal “Defense Of Marriage Act”, or DOMA, was passed by the federal government which defined marriage as “between a man and a woman.” This appeared to settle the matter once and for all.
Not surprisingly, however, it only made those who support same-sex marriage even more determined to fight for marriage equality giving the fact that experts estimate that same-sex couples lost out on over 1,000 federal benefits that heterosexual couples enjoyed through marriage as a result of the DOMA definition of marriage.
Finally, in 2013, the case of Windsor vs. U.S. made it to SCOTUS. In that case, Windsor challenged the IRS’s denial of the right to use the marital deduction after the death of her spouse on the basis that Windsor’s marriage to a same-sex spouse wasn’t legal for federal tax purposes. Windsor’s argument was that the definition of marriage found in DOMA was unconstitutional. SCOTUS agreed. The result being that the definition of marriage used by the federal government and numerous state governments up to that point in time was now unconstitutional. Without a doubt, same-sex marriage changed the definition of marriage in the U.S. at that time.
More recently, SCOTUS took the issue one step further, to the final step, in Obergefell v. Hodges, by declaring marriage to be a fundamental right, the significance of which is that states can no longer ban same-sex marriage in any way.
If you have additional questions or concerns about same-sex marriage, contact the experienced Florida employment law attorneys at Celler Legal, P.A. by calling 954-716-8601 to schedule your appointment.