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Loading ...Gay foes want say in DOMA challenge
03.04.2009 3:45pm EST
(Boston, Massachusetts) Opponents of same-sex marriage are preparing to ask a federal judge to allow them to submit briefs in a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
On Tuesday, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based LGBT rights group that brought the successful legal challenge leading to Massachusetts becoming the first state in the nation to legalize gay marriage in 2004, filed suit in federal court challenging DOMA.The Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, was enacted by Congress in 1996 when it appeared Hawaii would soon legalize same-sex marriage and opponents worried that other states would be forced to recognize such marriages. The new lawsuit challenges only the portion of the law that prevents the federal government from affording Social Security and other benefits to same-sex couples.
The Family Research Council, a conservative Washington, DC-based group, on Wednesday suggested that the Department of Justice would not vigorously defend the law in court.
President Barrack Obama has said he believes the law should be repealed. Democratic leaders in Congress also agree the law is discriminatory.
” We advise the Obama Administration to fulfill its constitutional duties and defend DOMA energetically and competently. We also urge any federal courts that hear this case to dismiss it and preserve the right of the people to decide such important public policy decisions,” said FRC President Tony Perkins.
“Even more important are the implications for marriage and family. The social science confirms what history and common sense have long told us: That it is overwhelmingly, the best environment for children is a home with a mom and dad.”
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute which failed twice to get a proposed amendment on the ballot to constitutionally ban gay marriage in Massachusetts, said in a statement that the GLAD lawsuit is the latest effort to export gay marriage to other parts of the country.
The only other state where same-sex marriage currently is legal is Connecticut. Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut said that the GLAD suit “shows their lack of respect for democracy.”
Last November GLAD launched the “Six by Twelve” campaign to legalize gay marriage throughout all six New England states by 2012.
Lawmakers in Maine and Vermont are taking up same-sex marriage bills this year.
I love that the bearded man in the photo that accompanies this article on the home page is saying that marriage is a civil right. He is doing this by having his sign that we shouldn’t impeade on Christ’s civil rights. At least one of their kind is saying that marriage is a civil right.
“Even more important are the implications for marriage and family. The social science confirms what history and common sense have long told us: That it is overwhelmingly, the best environment for children is a home with a mom and dad.”
While it may be the best environment, this is real life and conditions are not always “ideal”.
Just because the nuclear family is the ideal doesn’t mean that no other family dynamic exists. It also doesn’t mean any family that doesn’t fit the ideal family model should be denied recognition by our government and equal access to the protections, rights and responsibilities it offers.
This is more smoke screen from the Wingnuts and Christian Taliban who want to maintain their stranglehold on marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution.
Since there is to be NO establishment of a State Church, then WHY is the US government allowing radical Christians to dictate marriage law? There are some Christian denominations who have no problem at all with sanctioning gay marriage, but our homophobic leadership is allowing Theocratic law to deny American citizens equal access.
Oh?!? Since when did a mom/dad scenario become the “ideal” family unit Mr(s). KaninZ????
Let’s show them how to be patriotic! Without hate, but with peace and unity. Help educate them; beyond religion, to help them understand our plight. Disarm them with kindness. Love and Liberty.
FULL FAITH AND CREDIT CLAUSE.
This is so typical of the Right: they cloak themselves as defenders of children under the guise that “the best environment for children is a home with a mom and dad.” This ignores the reality that many kids already live in single-parent homes, and the fact that what kids need is a loving home where they are nurtured and protected. But these religious fanatics don’t care about what’s best for the kids — it’s all about oppressing progressive families and promoting an America based on fascism, evangelicalism and repression.