• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

The Supreme Court’s June decision to undermine the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and defeat California’s Proposition 8, has sparked a domino effect of legal and procedural victories for LGBT rights advocates. Among them is the announcement last week that same-sex married couples will now be able to file federal tax forms – a right long denied that activists decried as a tangible discriminatory effect of marriage bans. The IRS went further saying that even married couples residing in states where gay marriage was not yet legalized, would be eligible to file federal taxes jointly.

In a similar vein, a federal judge ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs could no longer discriminate against same-sex married couples in accessing the benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy.

And, the states of California and New Jersey passed laws banning so-called “gay-conversion” therapy, a bizarre form of psychological coercion aimed at young people struggling with issues of sexuality. A federal appeals court upheld California’s decision. Anti-gay factions including the Liberty Counsel, has threatened to take the fight to preserve “gay conversion” therapy all the way to the Supreme Court.

GUEST: Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry

Visit www.freedomtomarry.org for more information.