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The Supreme Court’s LGBT Catch-22

For advocates, the DOMA decision was a huge win, but the Voting Rights Act decision could be a major setback for gay rights.

Last week the Supreme Court issued two of the greatest wins and setbacks to civil rights we’ve seen in the last 50 years. In ruling key elements of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, it validated the love I share with my wife and that of other LGBT couples whose relationships have been all but invisible. But instead of opening the floodgates for gay rights to take hold across the country, it may have stalled them, by neutering a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that ended federal oversight of voting-law changes in states with a history of racial discrimination.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Atlantic. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Aisha C. Moodie-Mills

Senior Fellow and Director, FIRE Initiative