June 30, 2011
Feds Appeal Bankruptcy Ruling Against Marriage Ban
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
The Obama administration is appealing a bankruptcy court ruling that found the federal ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.
The Justice Department filed the appeal Monday even though President Barack Obama said he agrees that the ban, called the Defense of Marriage Act, is unconstitutional.
Nevertheless, government lawyers said Obama has ordered them to defend the ban "unless and until" Congress repeals the act or there is a final judicial ruling striking it down.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Donovan in Los Angeles called the ban unconstitutional on June 15 when he overruled government attempts to block a same-sex married couple from filing a joint bankruptcy. The couple married in 2008 during the brief window when gay marriage was legal in California.
Nineteen other judges on the bankruptcy court signed the ruling.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
