Dale Carpenter on the DOMA decision

[following up on on a previous post; link via Ed Brayton]

Dale Carpenter's nuanced (and more learned) take on Washington's DOMA decision is worth reading. I have one major dispute with his interpretation, though, that aligns with the Court's claims. Carpenter writes,

The court explains – unlike the New York court — that the issue is not whether excluding gay couples from marriage advances these interests in any way (the exclusion of gay couples does not plausibly advance them) but whether including straight couples in marriage advances these interests (it clearly does) [emphasis in original].

This is undermined by the intent and purpose of the law, as even the title attests. The Defense of Marriage Act was never intended to include heterosexuals, but to exclude homosexuals by definition. It baffles me that the Court and reasonable readers like Carpenter missed that obvious point.