The Defense of Marriage Act, sometimes known as “DOMA” for short, is a federal law that was passed in September of 1996. This act, supported by a majority of Congress and signed by then-president Bill Clinton, states, among other things that:

“No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.”

Thus, part of what the Defense of Marriage Act does is to allow individual states the choice as whether to recognize same-sex marriages or legal arrangements as binding within the confines of that state. If same-sex unions were legal in Florida, for example, and a same-sex couple were to be married there, the state of Idaho would not be legally bound to recognize that union in the way that Idaho is bound to recognize marriages performed in other states.

In addition, the Defense of Marriage Act provides some definitions related to marriage from a federal level. it states:

“In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word marriage means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word spouse refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

Thus, in terms of federal law, marriage only applies to the union of a man and a woman in matrimony.

The Defense of Marriage Act does not prohibit individual states from recognizing same-sex marriages or unions. Each state is free, under the act, to determine its own policy in this area. Many states have chosen to forbid same-sex marriage and/or same-sex unions, while other states have chosen to allow one form or another.

Posted in Relationships

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