"The president has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA]."For background, read Obama Pushes Court to Rule Against Marriage and also read Gay Military Offense Against Defense of Marriage as well as House of Representatives Defends DOMA in Court, Countering Obama
--White House Press Secretary Jay Carney 7/19/11
UPDATE 11/16/11: Senate committee votes to repeal DOMA; now on to full Senate
UPDATE 9/26/11: Florida Republican sponsors DOMA repeal legislation in U.S. House
-- From "Obama backs bill to end DOMA" by MJ Lee, Politico 7/19/11
The White House on Tuesday publicly supported a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Obama administration has opposed.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled Wednesday to hear testimony about the marriage legislation, the Respect for Marriage Act [S. 598], introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he celebrates Obama’s position and appreciated the show of support before Wednesday’s hearing.
The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s biggest gay advocacy group, immediately thanked Obama for his support.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "White House: Obama Supports Bill to Repeal Federal Gay Marriage Ban" posted at FoxNews.com 7/19/11
[Sen. Dianne] Feinstein, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is hosting the hearing, said she is under no illusion that overturning the ban will be easy, but she does think the public is ready for a change.
"I think eyes have opened. More and more people across this land know people who are gay, who want to have a lasting relationship, who look at marriage as an economic agreement as well as an emotional agreement," said Feinstein, speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday.
The Defense of Marriage Act passed both chambers of Congress by overwhelming margins and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Feinstein was one of 14 senators to oppose the legislation.
Feinstein is now one of 27 co-sponsors, none Republican, supporting repeal. She said with a GOP-dominated House, she understands repeal may not happen anytime soon.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "My Senate Testimony Against Bill to Repeal DOMA" by Ed Whelan, posted at National Review Online 7/19/11
The inevitable effect, and the presumed purpose, of section 3 of S. 598 is to have the federal government validate so-called same-sex marriage by requiring that it treat as marriage for purposes of federal law any such union recognized as a marriage under state law. Section 3 would also require taxpayers in the states that maintain traditional marriage laws to subsidize the provision of federal benefits to same-sex unions entered into in other states.
Further, the principles invoked by advocates of same-sex marriage in their ongoing attack on traditional marriage clearly threaten to pave the way for polygamous and other polyamorous unions, especially via the judicial invention of a state constitutional right to polyamory. . . .
Under section 3 of S. 598, any polyamorous [or polygamous] union recognized as a marriage under state law would have to be recognized by the federal government as a marriage for purposes of federal law. Thus, the foreseeable effect of S. 598 would be to have the federal government validate any state’s adoption of polyamory and to require taxpayers throughout the country to subsidize polygamous and other polyamorous unions.…
Our predecessors understood what too many Americans today have forgotten or never learned or find it convenient to obscure—namely, that the marriage practices that a society endorses have real-world consequences that extend far beyond the individuals seeking to marry and that shape or deform the broader culture. That understanding underlay the 19th-century effort to combat polygamy, which was recognized to be incompatible with democracy. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Same-sex Household Count Tiny: U.S. Census
