Boston judge: Federal ban gay marriage unconstitutional

A Boston judge has fired the latest salvo in the battle for gay marriage, ruling Thursday that a federal ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional because it violates states' rights.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled in favor of gay couples' right to marry, the AP reports, challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the ground that it interferes with a state’s right to define marriage.

Same-sex unions have been legal in Massachusetts since 2004, but the state argued that DOMA discriminated against gay married couples by denying them access to the same benefits as heterosexual married couples.

Tauro agreed, ruling on two separate challenges to the law that the act forced Massachusetts to discriminate against its own citizens.

"The federal government, by enacting and enforcing DOMA, plainly encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state, and in doing so, offends the Tenth Amendment," Tauro wrote in a ruling. "For that reason, the statute is invalid."

In a second case, filed by Gays & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Tauro ruled that DOMA also violates the Constitution's equal protection clause.

Advocacy groups embraced Tauro's ruling Thursday. "We've maintained from the very beginning that there was absolutely no basis for this law treating one class of married Massachusetts couples different from everybody else and the court has recognized that," said Gary Buseck, GLAD's legal director.

Supporters of same-sex marriage also took to Twitter to cheer on the ruling, posting tweets like "Yessssss!!!!!!!", "RIGHT ON!", and "Holiday, celebrate! So, U.S. Judge in Boston rules that a federal gay marriage ban is unconstitutional... Party in Boston!"

The Justice Department argued that the federal government has the right to set eligibility requirements for federal benefits such as Medicare - including requiring that those benefits only go to couples in marriages between a man and a woman, the AP reported.

The lawsuit challenges only the portion of the law that prevents the federal government from affording pension and other benefits to same-sex couples.

Congress put DOMA on the books in 1996 when it seemed that Hawaii was on the brink of legalizing gay marriage, and opponents feared that the movement would become a nationwide trend.