Scores of liberal congressmen join Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introducing legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), in defiance of homosexual Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who both prefer subtle legislative maneuvers to destroy marriage with less public notice.
UPDATE 9/19/09: Obama favors repeal of DOMA as well
-- From "Legislators seek repeal of federal marriage law" by Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle Washington Bureau 9/16/09
The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act denies federal marriage benefits to [homosexual] couples, including Social Security, estate and other tax laws and spousal immigration rights.
The repeal, called the Respect for Marriage Act [H.R.3567], would affect 18,000 same-sex couples married in California last year before voters approved Proposition 8, which overrode a state Supreme Court decision granting them marriage rights.
The Respect for Marriage Act would allow all legally married same-sex couples access to what advocates say are more than 1,000 marital benefits under federal law.
The law was passed during an election year when Clinton and many Democrats in Congress feared a voter backlash. Clinton issued a statement Tuesday saying, "the fabric of our country has changed, and so should this policy."
President Obama has said he would sign a law repealing the act, but many activists have been disappointed that he has not moved to revoke the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays in the military, allowing gays and lesbians to be dismissed on his watch.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont now marry same-sex couples, and New Hampshire will begin doing so in January. Voters in Maine will decide in November whether to allow same-sex marriage there.
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