지난 볼티모아에 왔을 때 23시간이 넘게 고생 고생하며 오고 기대반 설레임 반으로 너무나 행복하게 왔었던 이곳, 특별한 준비보다는 하나님의 대한 믿음과 소망으로 한 걸음 한 걸음 디뎠던 첫 걸음들,,,
이제 내일이면 마찬가지로 25시간이 넘는 비행을 통해 한국으로 갑니다. 원래는 20시간이 안되었던 여정이었는데 항공기편이 취소되고 강추위로 인해 20시간이 넘는 비행을 허락하시네요. 초심으로 돌아가라는 하나님의 뜻인 것 같습니다.
돌아가는 여정 또한 기대반 설레임 반입니다. 떠나올 때는 한국에 대한 큰 아쉬움이 없었는데 이제 새롭게 힘을 주시고 주님의 계획을 소망하고 그리운 마음으로 고국을 향해 갈 수 있게 하신 하나님...
언제나 선하시고 변함없이 성실하신 하나님,
The decision was 5 to 4, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the court’s liberals to form the majority. It did not address the question of whether there was a constitutional right to same-sex marriages
“DOMA instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others,” Kennedy wrote.
“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity.”
The 1996 law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton recognized marriage as only between one man and one woman. It passed at a time when same-sex marriage was not legal anywhere in the world.
Kennedy was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Justice Antonin Scalia read a lengthy and scathing dissent from the bench, saying the court should have left the matter for Congress to settle and had unfairly labeled proponents of traditional marriage as bigots.
“In the majority’s telling, this story is black and white: hate your neighbor or come along with us,” Scalia said. “It is hard to admit that one’s political opponents are not monsters, especially in a struggle like this one, and the challenge in the end proves more than today’s court can handle.”
Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. also dissented.
Roberts wrote separately to emphasize that the opinion did not address a broader right to marriage.
“We may in the future have to resolve challenges to state marriage definitions affecting same-sex couples,” Roberts wrote. “That issue, however, is not before us in this case.”
The case was brought by 83-year-old Edith Windsor, who married Thea Spyer, her partner of more than 40 years, in Canada in 2007. Both were residents of New York. When Spyer died in 2009, she left her estate to Windsor.
At that time, the state of New York recognized the marriage. But because the marriage was not recognized by the U.S. government, Windsor paid a federal estate tax bill of more than $360,000 that would not have been assessed if she were married to a man.
The Obama administration agreed with the appeals court that ordered a refund but wanted the Supreme Court to render a definitive verdict on DOMA.