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Federal Act
The legal controversies surrounding the marriage between same sex in the United States are complicated by the federal system of government which has the nation. Traditionally, the Federal Government attempted to establish its own definition of marriage, any marriage recognized by a state was recognized by the federal government, although that marriage was not recognized by one or more states (as in the case of interracial marriage before 1967, (when there were still states that prohibited it). With the adoption of the Law for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, however, was explicitly defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman for purposes of federal law. It Consequently, no law or Federal Government agency of the United States now recognizes marriages between same sex.According to the General Accounting Office of the Federal Government of the United States, most of 1,138 rights and protections are conferred to U.S. citizens marriage by the Federal Government areas affected include Social Security benefits, veterans benefits, insurance , Medicaid, hospital visitation, property taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family and immigration law. However, many aspects of marriage laws that affect the daily lives of people in the United States are determined by the states, not the Federal Government and the Defense of Marriage Act does not prevent individual states from defining marriage as they see fit, in fact, many legal scholars believe that the Federal Government can not impose a definition of marriage beyond the laws of all states through legislation..