"DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment."
- Justice Anthony Kennedy
The Court ruled in favor of Marriage Equality by rejecting DOMA on the basis that the act violated the Fifth Amendment’s protection of equal liberty by making inequality a federal law.
However, residents from states that do not recognize same-sex marriage are unaffected and will not have any benefits. This ruling merely sets the tone that marriage is not to be ruled by an act of the federal government.
This means that in Rhode Island and all of New England, Marriage Equality is the Law but in other states that same sex marriage is not recognized, we still have a lot of work to do.
Thank you to everyone who helped bring us Marriage Equality, we hope that this decision will propel us forward to the next victory in favor of Civil Rights!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/supreme-court-doma-decision_n_3454811.html#150_the-big-problem-with-the-supreme-courts-prop-8-decision
http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/26/in-landmark-ruling-supreme-court-strikes-down-defense-of-marriage-act/
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf