Happy families now even more alike.

• Author: Shackford, Scott
• Position: Follow-Up - Recognition of same-sex marriages

Since the 2003 ruling in which the Supreme Court struck down sodomy bans, the debate about the place of gays and lesbians in American culture has focused primarily on family matters. In the August 2005 issue of reason, Julian Sanchez looked at the complicated issue of families led by gay couples. The big public battle at the time was whether gays should be allowed to adopt children and whether to recognize nonbiological same-sex parents. As states developed their own policies on how much recognition to give gay relationships, conflicts emerged when families moved from state to state.

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In "All Happy Families," Sanchez noted that "the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] stipulates that 'the United States Constitution shall not be construed to require any state or territory to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of another state or territory.'" That meant same-sex marriages recognized in one state could be ignored by another. A separate provision of DOMA barred the federal government from recognizing such marriages. DOMA meant legal recognition of spousal relationships and federal benefits connected to the parent-child...