DOMA, as it is known, “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,” Justice Kennedy wrote.
The harm went beyond humiliation, the court found. DOMA “raises the cost of health care for families by taxing health benefits provided by employers to their workers’ same-sex spouses,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “And it denies or reduces benefits allowed to families upon the loss of a spouse and parent, benefits that are an integral part of family security.”
By focusing on the rights of children, who aren’t responsible for their parents’ identity, Justice Kennedy went beyond his prior rulings upholding gay rights. This time, his ruling was grounded in concrete harms as well as abstract notions of equality.
Same-sex marriage proponents previously have raised the benefits to children in state litigation. In 2009, for instance, the Iowa Supreme Court cited the interests of children of gay parents in holding that the state Constitution required recognition of same-sex marriage.
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