The Department of Homeland Security issued a FAQ on July 1, 2013, in response to the Supreme Court’s June 26, 2013 decision, United States v. Windsor, which struck down the1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional. That law had prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, regardless of whether they were legally valid in … Read more →

Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Consequently, federal benefits were only available to opposite-sex married couples. Since DOMA was signed into law in 1996, lawfully married same-sex couples have not been able to avail themselves of … Read more →