As we anxiously await for the Supreme Court to decide if it will take on two pending petitions against DOMA, two more have been brought to the high court, urging it to consider at least one gay marriage case in the near future to determine whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates legally married same-sex couples’ rights by treating them differently than heterosexual couples, reports Reuters.
One of the cases submitted on Tuesday is of 83-year-old Edie Windsor of New York, who married Thea Spyer in Canada in 2007. After Spyer passed away, Windsor was forced to pay more than $363,000 in U.S. federal estate taxes. Taxes she would not have had to pay had the government legally recognized her marriage. New York City courts have filed a brief supporting Windsor’s case.
The second case involves six same-sex married couples and one widower from around the country who have been denied significant federal benefits because of the law. A district judge in Connecticut ruled in July that their rights had been violated by the law, and in August, advocacy group the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders filed a request to the Supreme Court to see the appeal.
This is the third and fourth case against DOMA to be brought to the Supreme Court, all of which could be reviewed as early as the end of September.
Photo: lgbtqnation.com
