DOMA Watch is a joint effort by the growing coalition of Americans and their various organizations that support the preservation of marriage as a union of one man and one woman. A number of the pro-marriage organizations listed as “For DOMA” have contributed information to this website.
We have created DOMA Watch because of escalating efforts to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. There have been approximately 68 lawsuits over the issue of same-sex “marriage” since the first cases were filed in about 1971. Only 10 of those lawsuits were filed in the 25-year period from 1971 to 1996 before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Romer v. Evans, which struck down Colorado’s constitutional amendment banning laws specifically protecting sexual orientation. Fifty or more lawsuits have been filed since the Supreme Court’s sodomy decision in Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003.
Of the 34 cases that have been decided to date, Ten courts have ruled that there is a right to same-sex “marriage.” Three of those decisions have been overturned by constitutional amendment (Hawaii, Alaska, and California), three have been reversed by state supreme courts (two in Washington and one in New York). Massachusetts and Connecticut now issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
One of the most troubling developments over the past two years is the judicial perspective on same-sex “marriage.” Many of the judges that reject constitutional claims nevertheless express or imply their personal support for redefining marriage, albeit through the democratic process. This trend points to the ultimate need for a federal solution through a Federal Marriage Amendment.