Wayne Besen, founding executive director of Truth Wins Out, and Brian Moulton, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, join Current TV’s John Fugelsang to consider how the Supreme Court may rule on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act based on the arguments presented in court today.
“If the court decides to strike down DOMA, that’s going to address what Justice Ginsburg pointed out is the sort of half-treatment of marriage in this country, even in the nine states and the District [of Columbia] where it’s legal, because all of those rights and benefits that come along with federal recognition are not available to those couples,” Moulton says. “So striking down DOMA means those couples are finally going to be fully married in the eyes of the law.”
Besen, who married his partner one year ago in Vermont, says, “In some senses our marriage was one of symbolism because we didn’t have the same rights at the federal level as heterosexual couples. This will move that from symbolism to actual substance.”