Bishops’ Committee For Defense Of Marriage Disappointed Over DOMA Ruling

WASHINGTON—A federal appeals courtdecision May 31 to strike down part of the Defense of Marriage Act is a matterof “grave injustice,” said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, chairman ofthe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion andDefense of Marriage.

WASHINGTON—A federal appeals courtdecision May 31 to strike down part of the Defense of Marriage Act is a matterof “grave injustice,” said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, chairman ofthe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion andDefense of Marriage.

He voiced his disappointmentfollowing the May 31 decision of the federal appeals court in Boston to strikedown a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“Marriage, the union of one man andone woman, is the cornerstone of society,” Bishop Cordileone said. “It is alsothe foundation of a just society, as it protects the most vulnerable segment ofthe population, children. Every child longs for and deserves a mother and afather, and marriage is the only institution that insures that children grow upknowing and being known by their mother and father. The public good demandsthat this truth of marriage be respected in law and society, not rejected.”

OnMay 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, upheld anearlier U.S. District Court decision claiming section 3 of DOMAunconstitutional. Section 3 defines marriage for purposes of federal law as theunion of one man and one woman.

BishopCordileone noted, “The federal appeals court in Boston did a grave injusticeyesterday by striking down that part of the Defense of Marriage Act thatreasonably recognizes the reality that marriage is the union of one man and onewoman. DOMA is part of our nation’s long-established body of law rooted in thetrue meaning of marriage. Hopefully, this unjust ruling will be overturned bythe U.S. Supreme Court, for the benefit of our nation’s children, and ournation as a whole.”

DOMAwas approved by a broad, bi-partisan majority of Congress in 1996, and signedinto law by President Bill Clinton. DOMA recognizes for purposes of federal lawthat marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and it also protects therights of states to uphold this definition of marriage in the face of laws fromother states that might be adverse to such definition.

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Keywords: Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, President BillClinton, marriage, Bishop Salvatore Cordigleone

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