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BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts has challenged the federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, calling it "discriminatory and overreaching," and supporters say other states could follow suit.

The state, the first to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over the Defense of Marriage Act. The law interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Massachusetts is the first state to challenge the law. Its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, says the approximately 16,000 same-sex couples who have married in Massachusetts since the state began performing gay marriages in 2004 are being unfairly denied federal benefits given to heterosexual couples.

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