Bay Area couple at center of federal gay rights showdown

[William769]

In late August 2008, Karen Golinski and her partner of 18 years, Amy Cunninghis, gathered with family and friends in the rotunda of San Francisco's city hall and exchanged wedding vows, their young son serving as ring-bearer.

But as one of the 18,000 same-sex couples who married before voters approved Proposition 8 that fall, Golinski and Cunninghis now find themselves in the midst of a legal firestorm over same-sex marriage that may be one of several to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Their marriage license, it turns out, was just the beginning of the fight, not the end.

With a simple bid to add Cunninghis to her health insurance plan, Golinski has triggered one of six constitutional challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, a 15-year-old law that restricts the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and therefore forbids federal government recognition of same-sex marriages.

San Francisco U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White is set to hear Golinski's case in mid-December, pushing it near the front of the line in lawsuits around the country challenging DOMA. And, significantly, the Obama administration, which has abandoned defense of the law, will appear in court to side with Golinski.

http://www.mercurynews.com/samesexmarriage/ci_19421706

[Tesha]

1. DOMA is blatantly unconstitutional and a disgrace. That it was signed by a Democrat and supported...

...(so far) by another Democrat is a further disgrace.

Tesha

[Sub Atomic]

2. Yet the current Democrat in office has no plans to change anything.

It sure as hell makes this American proud.