The Defense of Marriage Act has been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. This morning the court issued an opinion saying that DOMA deprives people of equal liberty as protected by the Fifth Amendment.
The opinion was issued by Justice Kennedy joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayer and Kagen.
Fabienne Peter-Contesse and Aimee Olejasz are a same-sex couple from Juneau who were watching the case. The couple is heading to Washington State this fall to be married.
After reading the ruling this morning, Peter-Contesse says the impact is more powerful than she expected.
“It’s indescribable,” Peter-Contesse said. “Not something I expected to experience in my life.”
Olejasz says she had doubts about the how the ruling would turn out after how seeing the court ruled in the Voting Rights Act case.
She was following the decision online this morning but says she had a hard time believing what she was reading.
“I think my mind interpreted the words, but my emotions wouldn’t let me go there,” Olejasz said.
The ruling means when the couple gets married in Washington, a state where same-sex marriage is legal, their marriage will be recognized under Federal Law.
