DOMA struck down

[notyoueither]

To be fair, white guilt is almost as annoying as straight guilt.

Unless you're actually a former racist/homophobe, you shouldn't feel guilty. And no one should try to make you feel guilty.

Feeling guilty is not required to be happy that justice is being done for people for whom you are concerned.

[notyoueither]

Don't get me wrong, this is a net positive, but mostly I think the entire gay rights fight is merely a proxy war in a broader cultural struggle.

Could you elaborate on that?

[Aeson]

To me this ruling is more a victory for State's Rights than anything else. Clearly, the federal government was trying to usurp a right of the States to define marriage...a power clearly not enumerated to them in the Constitution. While this is also a victory for same-sex couples in States that allow same-sex marriage, it could equally be viewed as a defeat for couples in States that do not allow same-sex marriage.

I'd think it's actually a pretty big win for the same-sex couples in bigot states because it leads to the question you raise.

Now you have the inevitable case of married same-sex couples moving to a bigot state and suing to be able to [whatevermarriedthingbigottedstatedoesntallow]. I imagine a Federal employee (say military) in a same-sex marriage being moved to a bigot state would give the best chances. Not a sure thing, but as long as DOMA was allowed to stand it couldn't have happened.

[MrFun]

Department of Defense made an interesting statement today, stating that they intend to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in letter and in spirit with regard to gay soldiers/veterans who are married to someone of same sex.

[Bosh]

[regexcellent]

So the upshot is some people get some new tax deductions and military folks in certain states can marry their bros to get out of the barracks.

The big part of DOMA, the bit that says you can't hop the state line to get gay married, is still there.

Oh yes, this is such a big deal.

Oh also I fondly remember the impotent rage of Democrats that came after Heller and Citizens United.

[Hauldren Collider]

Or the VRA decision, which was forgotten in the blink of an eye.

[regexcellent]

Admittedly the fact that this doesn't strike me as a big deal is partly due to the fact that this whole gay marriage thing is just not all that important in the first place. Every time it comes up I'm reminded of that Monty Python sketch where the dude gets a fish license, which is actually a dog license with dog crossed out and fish written in crayon.

That being said, this is even less significant than the whole gay people can get married thing.

When gay marriage came to New York all the gay people I knew were all excited about it but none of them are actually getting married. Probably for the same reason that nobody gets a fish license.

[Aeson]

When you stop constantly harping on how unimportant it is to you, maybe you'll have some credibility in that regard.

[Dinner]

Oh also I fondly remember the impotent rage of Democrats that came after Heller and Citizens United.

Citizens United remains a democracy destroying abomination.

[MrFun]

You .... quoted reg.

[kentonio]

and military folks in certain states can marry their bros to get out of the barracks.

Please explain.

[MikeH]

Presumably they'd qualify for married quarters.

Seems like a particularly strange objection for an exceptionally unlikely situation. People would fake a marriage to get better quarters? Really?

[Elok]

Could you elaborate on that?

I think that many people on either side are no longer motivated primarily by actual concerns for equality or for the stability of society, etc. Not primarily, mind you. Those are still concerns for them. But on some deep level, it seems to be more about punishing the other tribe for having weird values and being stupid Jesus-freaks or filthy Godless libertines respectively.

Or maybe I've just been hanging out on the internet too long. Who knows?

[Lorizael]

When gay marriage came to New York all the gay people I knew were all excited about it but none of them are actually getting married. Probably for the same reason that nobody gets a fish license.

I see your anecdotal evidence and raise you: My high school girlfriend just (a week or so ago) got engaged to her girlfriend. (I didn't turn her gay.)