jillian
Princess
marriage has always been a State level Contract, outside the control of the feds.
Wrong.
When you file federal income taxes, do you file a joint return?
That's federal.
When you file federal income taxes, do you accept child tax credits?
That's federal gifts you are accepting.
When a person dies, does their spouse collect Social Security survivor benefits?
That's federal cash and prizes.
The federal government is all up in your marriage and your family.
The feds don't set conditions for the State Contracts, which is why you can marry your 12 year old cousin (with parental permission) in one State and not another, but still apply as married when it comes to your taxes.
you can regulate for any reason or no reason at all but not for discriminatory reason.
that's how that works. you're also talking about the difference between EXPANDING access to marriage and contracting it.
again, you can rail about this but you lose.