While supporters celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson argues that there's more work to be done.
The Supreme Court's work on marriage equality is far from done. But I believe this may be remembered as the day when the nation stopped regarding gay people as second-class citizens.
Justice Anthony Kennedy's sweeping opinion, striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, compels the federal government to accept that there is no difference between legally performed same-sex marriages and legally performed opposite-sex marriages. That is huge — but only goes so far.
The court left the question of allowing gay marriage to the states. This means that couples who are legally married in, say, Massachusetts or New York will be considered unmarried, and unable to be married, in Alabama or South Carolina. If they move to one of those states, they may receive the federal benefits of marriage but none of the state benefits.
Read Eugene Robinson's entire piece at the Washington Post.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.