It had to happen sometime: the acknowledgment that the Defense of Marriage Act — the 1996 law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage — was indefensible. Like the now-repealed Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy for the military, DOMA was a Bill Clinton sop to conservatives, an act whose inherent unfairness would inevitably face legal challenge.
But the announcement yesterday that Obama had instructed the Department of Justice to stop defending the law in court still came as a shock.
