Controversy accompanies prosecutions under hate crime laws, and perhaps that’s inevitable; the pattern of discrimination that shows people have been targeted based upon their personal traits springs from prejudices we have not conquered.
The 2003 Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, striking down all remaining state sodomy laws, changed the legal landscape for lesbian, gay and bisexual people in America forever.
We all know that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) means multiple obstacles for same-sex couples who want to tie the knot. But what happens when couples break up? More DOMA roadblocks.
Yesterday, New Jersey's legislature voted for marriage equality and today, Maryland has embraced what a growing number of other states have learned - countless families are protected and no one is hurt when loving same-sex couples are permitted to marry.