What is the federal Defense of Marriage Act? Google it. The first thing that comes up is your internet research friend Wikipedia. Here it lists what the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) says.

The federal DOMA has two parts. One part defines marriage to be between one man and one woman. The other part is this: “No state needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.”  Simply put, if a same-sex couple gets married in Massachusetts (a state where it’s legal) and moves to Pennsylvania (a state where it’s illegal), Pennsylvania does not have to recognize their “marriage.” (emphasis added)

That second part of the DOMA is what Tobias Wolff, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, attempts to manipulate you into overlooking. In a recent debate with Maggie Gallagher on The Lou Dobbs Show, he says, “Let’s be clear about what this statute [DOMA] is about…This has nothing to do with the federal government telling states what they have to do with their marriage policies.”

Ok. Go back to what DOMA says: “No state needs to treat relationships between persons of the same sex as a marriage.” The act is telling a state what it doesn’t have to do.  So wouldn’t throwing the law out leave into question what a state needs to do?

No state needs…so by throwing this law out, a Massachusetts same-sex couple can come to Pennsylvania and demand to have their union recognized, right? What would stop them? Well, without DOMA, nothing.

Prof. Wolff, the federal DOMA protects the rights of states like Pennsylvania to define marriage the way their state sees fit. True, technically by throwing out DOMA the federal government doesn’t require states to follow certain marriage policies. It’s just that the federal government will tell them they have to recognize same-sex “marriages” from other states. And when that’s the case, a state’s individual policy really doesn’t matter.

Repealing DOMA takes away the only thing protecting each state’s definition of marriage. Don’t let this professor fool you.