diana sen, lead counsel for latino justice. this is "democracy now!emocracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we move on now to talk about the issue of same-sex marriage. in a groundbreaking ruling on thursday, the first circuit court of appeals struck down part of the defense of marriage act known as doma. in a unanimous decision, the appeals court ruled the federal coverage does not have the authority to deny benefits to same-sex couples in states such as massachusetts where same-sex couples can legally marry. delmont, which was signed into law by president clinton in 1996, prevents same-sex married couples from filing joint federal tax returns. it also prevents a same-sex spouse from collecting social security survivor benefits and prevent the wrong place from sharing health-insurance and other benefits with a same-sex spouse. the massachusetts attorney general martha coakley rock and the court's ruling. >> is unconstitutional for the federal government >> it does harm to massachusetts and found is that massachusetts every day.