How did the Defense of Marriage Act prevent marriage equality? It affirmed and protected "traditional marriage."
It allowed states to refuse to recognize legal same-sex marriages performed in other states.
It required same-sex couples to pay a higher tax rate.
It protected the rights of children of same-sex couples who were not legally married.
It caused financial hardship on same-sex couples when one of them died.

the berlin blockade was an international crisis that arose from an attempt by the soviet union, in 1948–49, to force the western allied powers (the united states, the united kingdom, and france) to abandon their post-world war ii jurisdictions in west berlin. in march 1948 the allied powers decided to unite their different occupation zones of germany into a single economic unit. in protest, the soviet representative withdrew from the allied control council. coincident with the introduction of a new deutsche mark in west berlin (as throughout west germany), which the soviets regarded as a violation of agreements with the allies, the soviet occupation forces in eastern germany began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between berlin and the west. on june 24 the soviets announced that the four-power administration of berlin had ceased and that the allies no longer had any rights there.