Nearly one million same-sex couples are being denied 1,138 federal rights, benefits and entitlements inherently granted to heterosexual couples upon marriage.
Although same-sex marriage is legal in six states and one district, it is not federally recognized under the Defense of Marriage Act.
Through contemporary interviews and verite style footage, The Legal Stranger Project presents a series of personal stories conveying the great disparities encountered by same-sex couples in the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman, allowing the federal government to merely recognize these couples as “legal strangers.”
Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis stated at the first hearing ever held to repeal DOMA on July 20, 2011:
“The Defense of Marriage Act is a stain on our democracy. We must do away with this unjust, discriminatory law once and for all. It reminds me of another dark time in our nation’s history, in many years when states passed laws banning blacks and whites from marrying. We look back on that time now with disbelief. And one day we will look back on this period with that same sense of disbelief.”