Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry, same-sex couples in California will very soon have the freedom to marry once again. Prop 8, the California constitutional amendment that stripped same-sex couples of the freedom to marry, will soon be off the books and unenforceable.
On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the sponsors of Prop 8 had no legal right (or “standing”) to appeal the federal trial court’s decision that Prop 8 is unconstitutional because allowing same-sex couples to marry caused them no harm.
This historic ruling restores the freedom to marry to same-sex couples in California. Additionally, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Windsor v. United States, all married couples in California – including same-sex couples – must be treated by the federal government as married, equally, and with respect. On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had required the federal government to treat same-sex couples as unmarried and prohibited them from granting same-sex married couples any of the federal benefits, protections, responsibilities based on marriage. The Court ruled that DOMA Section 3 violates our Constitution’s guarantee of equality.
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