BBC Online :
The US is to make changes to the justice system to give greater legal recognition to same-sex marriages.
In a speech at a gay rights event in New York, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department had a role in “confronting discrimination”.
Benefits will include couples being exempt from having to testify against each other in court, and having equal rights to visits in federal prisons. Same-sex marriages are currently legal in 17 US states and in Washington DC.
Other states grant some marital benefits to gay couples, while others have banned gay marriage outright.
However, the new ruling will apply to federal matters in all states, whether or not they recognise gay unions, as long as the couple married legally in a state which does.
In his speech on Saturday at a Human Rights Campaign dinner, Mr Holder said he would issue a memorandum on Monday “that will for the first time in history formally instruct all Justice Department employees to give lawful same-sex marriages full and equal recognition to the greatest extent possible under the law”.
Same-sex couples will now be able to file jointly for bankruptcy and have equal entitlement to federal benefits paid to surviving partners of police officers killed on duty.
They will have equal rights to visit a spouse in federal prison, to be allowed out of prison on compassionate grounds to care for a spouse or attend their funeral.
