The legalization of gay marriage is a very popular issue in the United States. The popularity of the issue alone makes the outcome very important to the American people. The debate is multifaceted. Should gay marriage be legal? Should gay couples be able to adopt children? Is it constitutional to deny federal rights to gay couples? Then there are the media, which spread their opinions and try to influence those of the public. However, even though gay marriage is, in most cases, portrayed positively in the media, it still remains a source of widespread debate. Legalizing gay marriage could have positive effects on the American public in many ways. The most recent development in this area is the Supreme Court ruling in US v. Windsor. On June 26, 2013, it was decided that Section 3 of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment. It directly violates the clause that all American citizens will receive equal protection under the law (Metro). Article 3 of the DOMA states that “marriage” shall be defined as the union between a man and a woman. DOMA also states that “spouse” means a person of the opposite sex to whom you are married (US Cong.). When asked, JayChristopher Williams, 21 years old at the time DOMA was passed, said he believed that "for me, as a young gay man, when it was passed, it was a coded sign that the government believed that I was a second-class citizen." The law was quite a shock to him, coming from an upper-class Southern family in Mobile, Alabama. He had always thought he was as good as anyone else. Later in the interview he said that the law essentially forced him to give up the institution of marriage. Since I... half of the paper... United States." Williams Institute. Np, March 2007. Web. November 19, 2013. Meezan, William, and Jonathan Rauch. "Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Parenting, and America's Children. " Future of Children 15.2 (2005): 97-113. Project Muse.Web. November 19, 2013. Rauch, Jonathan. Gay Marriage: Why It's Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America. 1st, Rev. ed . New York: Macmillan, 2004. Google Books.Web, November 19, 2013. Cong. 104 Cong., 2dn sess Office/Defense of Marriage Act. Web. October 30, 2013. United States v. Windsor Supreme Court of the United States, June 26, 2013 . Scribd. Equality Case Files, September 12, 2012. Web October 29, 2013. Interview with JayChristopher by Lauren O'Rear. 2013.