The Williams Institute, a national think tank dedicated to advances in sexual orientation law and public policy, offered comments today in response to the Department of Justices’ recent decision concerning the Defense of Marriage Act.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that the Department of Justice will no longer defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. Brad Sears, Executive Director of the Williams Institute, described the Obama Administration’s decision as “a landmark moment in the history of the LGBT rights movement,” and explained that this is “the first time…a US President and his administration have formally acknowledged that sexual orientation should be treated with heightened security. By taking this position, the Administration indicates not only that DOMA is unconstitutional, but that virtually all forms of discrimination against LGBT people are.”
The Williams Institute released various statistics covering the numbers and types of same-sex marriages, unions and domestic partnerships on record in the United States and abroad. Lee Badgett, Research Director at the Institute, provided additional comments based on the organization’s research results:
“If the federal government recognizes legal marriages by same-sex couples, between 50,000 and 80,000 same-sex couples would be recognized for purposes of federal law. These couples would be treated as married by the tax code, social security programs, federal employee benefits, and many other programs. If civil union-like relationships are also included, another 85,000 same-sex couples would also be covered by those programs.”
