# Same-sex marriage:  United States lags behind Albania

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-sex-marriage-united-states-lags-behind-albania/505036>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 2, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-sex-marriage-united-states-lags-behind-albania/505036 "2009-08-02T05:42:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-sex-marriage-united-states-lags-behind-albania/505036/21 "2009-08-05T18:08:39Z")

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> [@Ruby](#):
>
> Why exactly is this a state issue? Since the legal rights of hetero marriage are not bound by state lines, why isn’t this a federal issue?

Marriage (gay or not) is a state issue. The 1996 so-called Defense of Marriage Act is the federal issue. Were the DOMA to go away (please please please), that would change the rules dramatically.

Let me add my kudos to Albania, and point out that the Albanian institution of the _vajzë e betuar_ has provided a legitimate social role for some LGBT individuals: essentially, women living as men, up to and including marriage to other women. I don’t know too much about it, and it’s obviously not the same as modern Western gay identity, but “dangerous to be openly homosexual” is obviously a bit more nuanced than some of the posts here indicate.

ETA: A not-very-good article on the topic in Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sworn\_virgin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sworn_virgin). Obviously, the sexual aspect would occur behind closed doors anyway; From other things I’ve read I gather the “virgin” aspect is a public fiction, a sort of 19th-century “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

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