Defense of Marriage Act

The dual victories the Supreme Court handed to same-sex-marriage supporters Thursday mean Washington will no longer be the focus of the fight. The next gay-rights battles will be over state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage.

With the Supreme Court declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, the next move will likely be executive action by President Obama to equalize federal marriage benefits.

A pair of 5-4 Supreme Court rulings struck down as unconstitutional a federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples and cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California.

The high court has overturned the federal Defense of Marriage Act. It has also returned California's Proposition 8 to a lower appellate court with orders to dismiss it, saying petitioners didn't have standing to bring the challenge.

Changing your Facebook profile picture to support gay marriage is not the same as protesting in the streets.If you checked out Facebook in the week that…