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Originally Posted by martyh
so in the eyes of a lot of people including the US federal law the marriage is not consumated
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Consummate does not equal "first heterosexual sex of a marriage", it is "first sex of a marriage".
"Eyes of a lot of people" does not equal "gay people can 'quite clearly' not consummate".
Gay people can and do have sex, just not the same way as heterosexual people, given that each partner has the same... equipment. If a gay couple get married, they can
quite clearly consummate their marriage by having sex with each other in whatever way they happen to do so. It would still be their first sexual act as a married couple, and so still be consummation.
Federal law - Totally different thing, nothing to do with consummation. Refusal to accept that gay people can "consummate" is not why US federal law does not recognise gay marriages.
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is the US Federal law which prohibits the federal recognition of same-sex marriages (& so prohibits same-sex married couples from claiming any federal benefits that opposite-sex married couple can claim), and defines marriage as a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife". It also states that no State shall have to recognise any same-sex marriage as valid just because it was performed in another State where it is legal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense...riage_Act#Text
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The following excerpts are the main provisions of the Act:[8]
Section 2. Powers reserved to the states
No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.
Section 3. Definition of marriage
In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.
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