Massachusetts attorney
general Martha Coakley filed suit Wednesday against the federal
government over the Defense of Marriage Act.
Coakley says DOMA
interferes with Massachusetts's ability to define and
regulate marriage; the commonwealth has allowed same-sex
marriage since 2004. On a conference call on Wednesday, Coakley
called DOMA "discriminatory" and says it undermines
and complicates legal matters in Massachusetts because it often
puts the state in conflict with the federal government.
DOMA was enacted in
1996 after Hawaii briefly considered same-sex marriage. The act
denies federal recognition of same-sex marriage and gives
states the right to refuse recognition of same-sex
marriages lawfully performed in other states.
Among many of its
arguments, Coakley's suit argues that DOMA requires
Massachusetts to violate the constitutional rights of its
citizens by treating married heterosexual couples and married
same-sex couples differently when doling out Medicaid benefits
and Social Security payouts to spouses. Coakley
brought up another example: Massachusetts is
given federal money to maintain a military
cemetery that doesn't allow the same-sex spouses of fallen
soldiers to be buried there.
The lawsuit was filed
in federal court in Boston, and is the second case against
DOMA; a case was filed in March by the Massachusetts legal
advocacy group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and
Defenders.
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