Bankruptcy court, an unlikely enemy of DOMA

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles said Monday that couples, regardless of their orientation, should be allowed to file for protection against creditors and that under the current federal gay marriage ban, same-sex couples are left to fend for themselves.

DOMA, the 1996 law, prohibits gay marriages from being recognized on the federal level. Some agencies have tried to circumvent the policy, but most gay couples still find themselves will less legal protections than other Americans. This includes joint tax savings, social security benefits and immigration rights for spouses. A 20-judge panel of the Bankruptcy agrees that these inequalities span further than the most obvious.

"In this court's judgment, no legally married couple should be entitled to fewer bankruptcy rights than any other legally married couple," the justices said. Although emotion often surrounds the gay marriage debate, the court's claim is purely pragmatic. "Creditors in this case, as in other cases, simply hope to be paid what they are owed," they said. "Beyond that, no creditor's notion of morality concerning a same-sex marriage ... has any valid bearing on the creditor's rights in this case."

According to SFGate, at least 10 cases around the nation challenging gay couple bankruptcy rights are pending.