Reasons to Have Pride in 2012, Part 3

Because court rulings are injecting a little common sense into the national debate

It’s a simple precept: If you’re going to treat different groups of people differently under the law, you better have a good reason. And neither the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act nor California’s Proposition 8 provide one, judges have ruled over the past few months. In February the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Prop. 8 unconstitutional because it “serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.” The same month a district judge ruled that a federal court employee was entitled to health benefits for her same-sex spouse.