Wednesday the 23rd brought a triple victory. The Obama administration and the Department of Justice said they would no longer defend Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The same day, the new governor of Hawai`i signed civil unions into law and the Maryland Senate voted 25-21 in favor of a marriage equality bill

(San Francisco, CA, March 1, 2011)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and Lambda Legal jointly filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court to lift the temporary stay in the federal court challenge to Proposition 8.

"The Obama administration will press ahead with its fight against one federal employee’s bid to obtain health insurance for her same-sex spouse, according to a government court filing on Monday.

"The decision by the Justice Department comes days after it announced that a federal statute defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman—known as the Defense of Marriage Act—was unconstitutional.

"But the headlines missed the technical but important note in Holder's announcement: the Obama administration believes that any law affecting lesbians and gay men deserves "heightened scrutiny" by the courts.

(San Francisco, February 28, 2011) — The U.S. Department of Justice
has announced that it will continue to deny spousal health insurance
benefits to a lesbian federal employee, in spite of last week’s
announcement that Attorney General Eric Holder has determined that the
so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional and that
DOJ therefore will no longer defend it against court challenges.

"A survivor of a same-sex marriage can inherit as a spouse, an appeals court said Thursday in a ruling a gay-rights legal group called the first appellate decision of its kind in New York.

"While same-sex couples can't wed in the state, J. Craig Leiby and H. Kenneth Ranftle were legally married in Canada, so Leiby is entitled to recognition as the surviving spouse in a dispute over Ranftle's estate, the appellate judges said in upholding a lower court's decision.

"The Obama administration's decision to no longer back the Defense of Marriage Act won't immediately enable married gay couples to receive federal benefits, but is already shaping battles in the courts and in Congress that could affect a range of government policies.

"...The move 'will have a very significant impact because it is easier for the courts to say "we think this law is unconstitutional" if another branch is already saying that,' said Jon Davidson, the legal director of Lambda Legal, one of the groups that has challenged the law in court.

"On Wednesday, President Obama directed the Justice Department to stop defending the law that bans federal recognition of same-sex marriages. And while the decision will — and should — be celebrated by gay couples across the country, practically speaking, their lives won’t change much for some time.

A federal judge has requested the U.S. Department of Justice to explain how it plans to defend denying spousal health benefits to a lesbian federal employee, following an announcement yesterday by the Obama administration that it believes the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White has given government attorneys until Monday, February 28, to respond.

"In a major shift on gay rights, the Obama administration said that it would no longer oppose legal challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, just two months after Congress and the president agreed to repeal the military's ban on openly gay service members.

"The administration's new stance was hailed as a 'monumental turning point in the quest for equality' by Jon W. Davidson, legal director for Lambda Legal, a gay rights group in Los Angeles".