WASHINGTON DC - Six Illinois Congress members signed onto a letter this week supporting a lesbian couple's challenge of federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
U.S. Representatives from Illinois' delegation Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson Jr., Mike Quigley, Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky voiced their support in an amicus brief on behalf of a federal court employee's complaint.
Karen Golinski, a federal court employee, sued the government after being denied equal spousal benefits for her wife that her colleagues in heterosexual marriages have access to under Section 3 of Defense Of Marriage Act, The Advocate reports.
The brief, also signed by four openly gay Congress members, argues that Section 3 of DOMA undermines Congress' legitimate interests and is a clear, discriminatory strike against LGBT people and same-sex couples.
President Obama has instructed Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice to no longer defend the federal law although it still remains on the federal law books. Private lawyers have been hired to defend the law.
