Photo: Eric Holder. Credit: North Charleston/flickr.
When the issue of marriage equality once again comes before the nation’s highest court, the Obama administration will file a brief advocating for same-sex couples’ right to marry, Attorney General Eric Holder said during an interview with ABC News.
“I think we will file a brief that is consistent with the actions that we have taken over the past couple of years,” Holder told ABC’s Pierre Thomas. “We did not defend the Defense of Marriage Act. We were vindicated by the Supreme Court. The president then asked us to make the promise of the Windsor decision real. I sent a letter to the president just a couple weeks ago that talked about all the things we have done to knock down the barriers that still exist for same-sex married couples.”
According to Holder, these actions leave the Obama administration arguing that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional the logical next step.
“We’re proud of what we have done,” Holder said. “If a case comes before the Supreme Court we will file something consistent with what we have done that will be in support of same-sex marriage.”
Holder’s remarks come after Utah officials announced last week they will appeal a federal court decision declaring the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional to the Supreme Court, although the court has no obligation to hear the case. The office of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes announced the decision July 9, opting to take the state’s appeal to the Supreme Court, rather than the full 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in order to “obtain clarity and resolution from the highest court.”
Last month, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to uphold a lower court’s ruling that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. On December 20 U.S District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby found Utah’s same-sex marriage ban in violation of the U.S. Constitution, leading more than 1,000 same-sex couples to marry before the U.S. Supreme Court interjected and halted marriages pending appeal. The appeals court heard oral arguments in the case on April 10.
Asked if he believes discrimination against same-sex couples in terms of marriage is unconstitutional, Holder said he does.
“That’s why we decided not to support the Defense of Marriage Act,” Holder continued. “When you have differentiations that are made on the basis of sexual orientation they should be subject to heightened scrutiny. That being the case, I think a lot of these measures that ultimately will come before the court will not survive a heightened scrutiny examination.”
Holder’s remarks come little more than year after the Supreme Court declared Section 3 of DOMA, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, unconstitutional. That sweeping 5-4 decision by the high court has sparked litigation challenging same-sex marriage bans in every state where they are on the books. Marriage equality also has not lost a single day in court since the Windsor decision. Federal courts have ruled in favor of marriage equality in Utah, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Oregon, Wisconsin and Indiana. State courts in Arkansas, New Jersey, New Mexico and Colorado have also sided with marriage equality.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled that Aruba and Curaçao must allow same-sex couples to marry, overturning an existing prohibition on the practice in those constituent countries.
Same-sex couples have been able to wed in the Netherlands since 2001, and since 2012 in Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba, three Caribbean municipalities under Dutch control.
But the practice was prohibited in Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten -- three constituent countries of the Netherlands -- although they were required to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages performed in the other jurisdictions. Aruba also approved a registered partnership law for same-sex couples in 2021.
Recent polling from Gallup indicates that Republican support for same-sex marriage has dropped significantly since 2022.
Two years ago, 55% of Republican-identified U.S. poll respondents supported allowing same-sex couples to marry, and 56% of Republicans said that gay and lesbian relations were morally acceptable.
But amid a slew of anti-LGBTQ attacks -- primarily targeting transgender rights -- support for any form of LGBTQ rights or LGBTQ visibility has dropped, reports Business Insider.
Only 46% of Republicans now support allowing same-sex couples to marry, and only 40% believe such relationships are morally acceptable.
Thailand's Senate voted to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, putting the country on the cusp of becoming the first in Southeast Asia to enact such a law.
The bill changes references in current law from gender-specific terms like “man,” “woman,” husband,” and “wife” to gender-neutral terms.
It recognizes the inheritance rights of one partner following the other partner’s death, regardless of gender, and grants same-sex couples the right to adopt.
The bill was previously approved in March by a vote of 400-10 in the country's lower house of parliament. On Tuesday, June 18, the Senate passed it 130-4, with 18 members abstaining.
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