Marriage equality has been a hot-button issue for many years, but now with the Supreme Court hearings on same-sex marriage, the federal government is finally taking this subject seriously. It has since been the role of local officials to decide whether or not gay marriage is legal in their respective states. Maine, Massachusetts, and New York are three of only nine states that have legally accepted the marriage of same-sex partners. Under the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, federal law restricts inter-state recognition to only opposite sex marriages. The unions of same-sex partners are not afforded the same benefits and rights that are given to marriages between a man and a woman. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells The New York Times, “There are two kinds of marriage. Full marriage and skim milk marriage.”
Ginsburg, along with the Obama administration, has proclaimed the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional—the legislation is currently being contested by the highest court in the United States. Such an issue is crucial to the lives of gay men and lesbians—especially ones that have or are starting a family.
People reported that Jenna Wolfe, The Today Show weekend anchor, and her girlfriend for three years, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, are expecting a baby girl. “I don’t want to bring my daughter into a world where I’m not comfortable telling everyone who I am and who her mother is,” says Wolfe. And hopefully, with the potential federal legalization of same-sex marriage, she won’t have to. Congratulations to Ms. Wolfe and Ms. Gosk!