Same-sex couples hope Obama’s DOMA order could help right-to-marry suit

Same-sex couples who are suing the state of Minnesota for the right to marry are urging Gov. Mark Dayton, Attorney General Lori Swanson and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to follow the Obama administration’s lead. Late last month, President Barack Obama ordered the Department of Justice to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 measure signed into law by President Clinton that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage. In a letter sent to Dayton last week, the couples urged the Democratic governor to halt Minnesota’s defense of its DOMA.

Three same-sex couples filed suit in Minnesota District Court in 2010 to overturn Hennepin County’s refusal to issue them marriage licenses. The suit names both Swanson and Freeman.

Doug Benson, executive director of Marry Me Minnesota and one of the plaintiffs in the case, said his group hopes Obama’s decision will impact Minnesota’s laws barring same-sex marriage.

“If the federal DOMA is unconstitutional, which is what the President and Attorney General are saying, then by default, the state DOMAs which mirror the provisions of the federal law, are unconstitutional as well,” Benson told the Minnesota Independent. “The judge in our case has been informed of the very significant step by the president and [Department of Justice].”

On Feb. 23, the Obama administration said its review of DOMA found it to be unconstitutional and that the federal government would no longer defend a law it believes to be unconstitutional.

Benson added, “We hope it positively impacts our case and we also hope Attorney General Swanson will follow the federal lead.”

In its letter, provided exclusively to the Minnesota Independent, Benson’s group urged Dayton’s administration to halt Minnesota’s legal defense of DOMA and to recognize marriages of residents who have same-sex marriage certificates obtained legally in places like Canada and Iowa.

“We call on you to direct all state agencies and local governments to immediately stop the enforcement of the provisions of Minnesota’s Defense of Marriage Act and recognize the out-of-state marriages of Minnesota same-sex couples as legal and valid, to be treated in all state business in the same manner as any legally constituted, different-sex marriage,” the letter dated Mar. 2 reads.

Benson said he hasn’t yet heard from the governor’s office on the matter except that Dayton had directed the state’s legal counsel to look into it.

OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group, has in the past said the lawsuit is not their preferred strategy for reaching marriage equality for same-sex couples. But in the wake of Obama’s decision said that Freeman and Swanson should think carefully about it.

“OutFront Minnesota hopes that this new development will be examined carefully by the Hennepin County Attorney’s and Minnesota Attorney General’s offices as each determines its future approach to the marriage equality litigation currently pending in Hennepin County,” the group said in a statement.

Here’s the full letter sent to Dayton last week:

March 2, 2011
Governor Mark Dayton
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Dear Governor Dayton,

This letter calls your attention to a February 23, 2011 announcement from the Department of Justice in which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder describes a change in the federal government’s policy with regard to the fifteen year old Defense Of Marriage Act. DOMA prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage in the application of nearly 1400 federal laws and regulations. Further, it purports to exempt the states from complying with the Comity Clause of the constitution, allowing the states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries.

This law has received several challenges in federal court as to its constitutionality and has been unsuccessfully defended by the Department of Justice. Attorney General Holder has now announced that, at the direction of the President of the United States, the policy of the Department of Justice will be to no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense Of Marriage Act. The President and Attorney General have determined that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation merits heightened scrutiny, not mere rational basis analysis. They have further concluded that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

The federal government has rejected DOMA as unconstitutional. By analogy and federal constitutional sovereignty, state laws that mirror its provisions are unconstitutional, as well.

Because this change in policy amounts to a federal recognition of the legality same-sex marriages, we call on you to follow the President’s lead and immediately direct Attorney General Swanson to cease her defense of Minnesota’s own Defense of Marriage Act and statutes that discriminate against same-sex couples, which are currently under challenge in District Court in the case of Benson vs Alverson. Further we call on you to direct all state agencies and local governments to immediately stop the enforcement of the provisions of Minnesota’s Defense of Marriage Act and recognize the out-of-state marriages of Minnesota same-sex couples as legal and valid, to be treated in all state business in the same manner as any legally constituted, different-sex marriage.

We ask for your expedient action in this matter.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Douglas Benson
Executive Director
Marry Me Minnesota