The culture has changed considerably since 1996, when a few state legislatures were beginning to seriously debate the concept of extending full marriage equality to gays and lesbians. That's when the GOP rushed to stoke its base of religious conservatives with a law that blocked that full equality. Where tradition (and law) had dictated that a marriage in New York or Hawaii must be recognized in Alabama or Wyoming, the Defense of Marriage Act allowed any state to deny the legitimacy of a same-sex marriage that had taken place elsewhere.

The bill's sweeping prohibitions also deny shared insurance and other work-related benefits to same-sex couples who work for the federal government, all so Congress could pose as the moral defender of traditional marriage. It was a strange pose, given that some of DOMA's staunchest supporters were divorcees and adulterers.