Catholic News Agency has an article today written by Kevin J. Jones on the potential impact of the Obama’s decision to no longer defend in court the Defense of Marriage of Act (DOMA) passed in 1996.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced February 23 that the administration now believes DOMA – which defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman and denies marital benefits to homosexual partnerships – is unconstitutional. He claims the legal landscape has changed.
In response, Anthony R. Picarello, Jr, the top legal counsel for the U.S. Bishops, called the administration’s decision a “grave affront” to all Americans who reject discrimination but affirm the “unique and inestimable value of marriage as between one man and one woman.”
Others have commented that Holder’s statement seems to suggest that the belief in marriage of one man and one woman is mere prejudice, as though “it were motivated by a desire to cause harm to people.”
“It raises the concern,” said Robert P. George, Catholic scholar on marriage, “that the Justice Department will treat believing Christians, Jews, Muslims and others as though they are the equivalent of racists.”
Read more at my source, link to which is highlighted above.
