81 PERCENT of the viewers, who voted in our daily poll in The Filipino Channel’s Balitang America, said their families are not ready to accept same-sex marriage. They reiterated their belief that marriage should only be between one man and one woman.
These kababayans echo the sentiment of many other religious and morally-conservative Americans, who argue that God’s laws should be above man’s laws.
They contend that same-sex marriage is offensive to their faith and will never be right.
But the majority of the the justices of the Supreme Court had an opposing view. They ruled that the 17-year-old Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, was unconstitutional.
In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court said DOMA was tantamount to the “deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.”
In the majority opinion penned by Justice Anthony Kennedy (who was appointed by then President Ronald Reagan in 1988), he said DOMA was always about interfering with “the equal dignity of same-sex marriages, a dignity conferred by the States in the exercise of their sovereign power” and was “more than an incident effect of the federal statue. It was its essence.”
Contrary to the argument of anti-gay marriage advocates – that same-sex marriage undermines and deprecates traditional marriage and the traditional family – the Supreme Court decision highlighted the very sanctity of marriage and the need for stability of family, as arguments in favor of marriage equality.
Justice Kennedy wrote: “DOMA humiliates tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples. The law in question makes it even more difficult for the children to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.”
“DOMA instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others,” the decision explained.
The Supreme Court concluded that the federal statute DOMA “is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity.”
It is important to note that most of these gay couples are productive citizens and residents of America, who have been paying taxes and yet have not enjoyed the rights, benefits and protection accorded by the federal government to opposite sex couples.
According to Advocates.com, the Supreme Court’s rulings regarding the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 will have implications for millions of LGBT Americans, including the nation’s approximately 650,000 same-sex couples.
As a result of the court’s decisions, married same-sex couples will now enjoy a variety of important social, economic, and legal benefits that equal rights advocates say will surely strengthen their families.
Below are some of these most important benefits, which will also help many gay couples among the Fil-Am community:
Immigration benefits
Prior to the rulings, countless same-sex binational couples either had their relationships broken or had to go to extreme lengths (like leaving the country) to stay together.
The ruling on DOMA, which strikes down the ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages, has opened doors for LGBT’s, who are US citizens, to petition a non-citizen spouse, or expedite citizenship for a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) spouse.
According to Brad Sears, Assistant Dean in UCLA School of Law, executive director of the Williams Institute, and Roberta A. Conroy Scholar of Law and Policy, “this benefit will affect nearly 25,000 same-sex couples in which one spouse is a citizen and the other is not. Moreover, this will also help nearly 12,000 in which both spouses are non-citizens.”
Income tax
Same-sex couples would be able to file their federal income taxes jointly. For many couples – typically those in which one person earns significantly more than the other – merging incomes for tax purposes could result in big savings.
Inheritance tax
Internal Revenue Code exempts amounts transferred to a surviving spouse from the decedent’s taxable estate. Married same-sex couples will now be accorded this exemption, creating an inequity in taxation.
Tax on gain from the sale of the Taxpayer’s Principal Residence
Under Internal Revenue Code, a single taxpayer may exclude up to $250,000 of profit due to the sale of his or her personal principal residence from taxable income. Married couples filing jointly may exclude up to $500,000 on the sale of their home. Legally married same sex couples will be able to save a lot of money in taxes, just like opposite sex married couples.
Social Security and employment benefits
Same-sex couples will likely be eligible for their spouses’ Social Security benefits. Surviving spouses of same-sex couples could gain access to spousal Social Security benefits, which could add up to more than $5,700 to the monthly income of the surviving spouse.
Additionally, same-sex spouses of federal employees could be eligible for employee benefits currently provided to different-sex spouses. Same-sex couples will also be eligible for health care and tax benefits that will have an enormous positive impact on their financial stability.
Population access to marriage
Assistant Dean Brad Sears wrote on Advocates.com that “the court’s ruling on Proposition 8 opens marriage to California’s 1.1 million LGBT adults, including nearly 200,000 individuals who are already part of a same-sex couple.”
Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling, 18 percent of the entire US population and 22 percent of same-sex couples living in the 12 states (California. Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) plus the District of Columbia (Washington DC) have legalized same-sex marriage.
Sears pointed out that this means 30 percent of the entire US population and 37 percent of same-sex couples will now live in states that extend marriage to same-sex couples.
Sears wrote that there are about 5.5 million LGBT Americans (including more than 800,000) who are part of a same-sex couple and who continue to live in states that don’t have marriage equality.
Sears pointed out that the SC ruling did not provide them the right to marry in their states, and even if they marry in states where they can, it is unclear whether they will be eligible for the federal benefits that different-sex couples in their states enjoy.
Sears, however remained optimistic and said Wednesday’s historic rulings “mark an important milestone in the rapidly expanding legal recognition and public support for marriage for same-sex couples.”
“While 37 states continue to deny marriage to same-sex couples, thousands of families have secured the critical benefits and equal dignity of marriage – and that is a fact worth celebrating.”
* * *
Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
