by Alec Walen

About the author: Alec Walen is a professor of legal, ethical, and historical studies at the University of Baltimore.

It was a foregone conclusion that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) would become law. A majority in this country believe that gay marriage is wrong and demeaning to the institution of marriage, and our politicians do a reasonably good job of representing the interests of their constituents, at least on nontechnical matters like this. Rare indeed was the member of Congress who expressed concern over the fact that the DOMA’s sole aim is to perpetuate the unequal treatment of homosexuals by defining marriage for the purposes of federal law as “a legal union between one man and one woman.”

Constitutional and Moral Arguments

There are both constitutional and moral problems...