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Loading ...Gays decry Obama’s stand on gay marriage case
06.15.2009 8:58am EDT
(Los Angeles) Gay rights groups expressed dismay with the Obama administration Friday over its championing of the Defense of Marriage Act, a law the president pledged to try to repeal while on the campaign trail.
The government filed a motion late Thursday to dismiss the case of Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who are challenging the 1996 federal act. The law prevents couples in states that recognize same-sex unions from securing Social Security spousal benefits, filing joint taxes and other federal rights of marriage.U.S. Department of Justice lawyers argued that the act – known informally as DOMA – is constitutional and contended that awarding federal marriage benefits to gays would infringe on the rights of taxpayers in the 30 states that specifically prohibit same-sex marriages.
“The president made very explicit and emphatic campaign promises that he opposes DOMA and would provide leadership calling on Congress to repeal it,” said Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director for Lambda Legal. “This brief is not consistent with that promise.”
Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Friday that the department is abiding by its standard practice of defending existing law and that the filing doesn’t mean Obama has changed his mind about wanting to see gay couples win federal recognition.
“Until Congress passes legislation repealing the law, the administration will continue to defend the statute when it is challenged in the justice system,” Schmaler said.
More than four months into his first term, Obama has been under growing pressure from gay rights activists who supported his candidacy to move forward on repealing DOMA and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights lobbying group based in Washington, called on Obama to reassure his supporters by sending Congress a bill to lift the federal marriage law.
“The Administration apparently determined that it had a duty to defend DOMA in the courts. The President has just as strong a duty to put his principles into action,” Solmonese said in a statement.
In the papers, Justice Department lawyers said federal court was not the right venue to tackle legal questions raised by Hammer and Smelt, who got married in California last year during the five-month window in which the state sanctioned same-sex unions.
Lambda Legal’s Pizer said the government’s stance in some ways marks an improvement from Justice Department positions taken on the Defense of Marriage Act when George W. Bush was president.
The brief acknowledges that gay couples who tie the knot in the six states where same-sex marriages are permitted are legally married and does not cite the oft-used argument that children fare better in households headed by a married man and woman, Pizer said.
At the same time, it repeated several arguments made under Bush, including the argument that a union between a man and a woman is “the traditional, and universally recognized, version of marriage.”
The Obama administration will have more opportunities in coming weeks to weigh in on the subject. Another challenge to DOMA brought on behalf of married couples in Massachusetts and a lawsuit seeking to overturn California’s gay marriage ban under the U.S. Constitution are making their way through the courts.
I believe a lot of the anger comes from the fact the DOJ defended DOMA above and beyond the call. They could’ve simply said the plaintiffs didn’t have standing and been done with it – instead they began dismantling the legal arguments pro-equality forces have been using.
The Obama administration may ultimately vindicate itself – everything in Washington is politics and you have to wait for your best set of circumstances, and many believe this case wasn’t it – but until we see decisive action we need to keep our voices loud and clear. I agree with cm that we need to be focusing on Congress as much as anything. Congress is more accountable to the constituents. Besides, there’s no guarantee the Supreme Court will side with us about anything.
Most know I’m not an Obama fan when it comes to gay issues – I think he sells us down the river far too often.
HOWEVER, this particular issue/case has nothing to do with Obama.
Until Congress or “We the People” change the law, the Justice Department is legally bound to fight in court -for- DOMA, and this is regardless of who is President, or Attorney General, and regardless of what they believe.
The President is not allowed to interfere. Something I agree with – we just had a President who decided *which* laws he had to obey – look how well that worked. =\
So while the brief filed sucks, and raises my hackles, and yes the DOJ could have phrased things differently, they are still doing what “We the People” asked them to do – uphold DOMA.
There are more ways than one to change the law, and court is not the only option. (Look at women’s suffrage.)
While the court has been ahead of the times on the issues of Civil Rights, maybe it’s time for us to do some good old fashioned campaigning, and get a new law passed, rather than try and beat he old one in court.
To be fair to Obama, the DOJ is legally required to defend existing law.
Besides, we elected Obama for a four year term. Ergo, we gave him four years to act on a given list of policies. Let’s wait on judging him until we have at least a few of those years to go on, eh?
Again. It is not a petulant fit.
It is frustration with a system that constantly ignores the GLBT community for the most part. We are tired of the same arguments that have been disproved. We are tired of the intermittent advancement of piecemeal legislation across the country. We are tired of lying politicians who only say they believe in gay rights to get our money.
Equal rights should not have to be purchased.
Equal rights should be guaranteed for all.
Equal rights should not be a question.
And most of all religion should have NO say in what rights we are allowed.
When you are talking about equal rights, it is ridiculous to ask people to look at the 100 year political picture. Not having equal rights is affecting people now. Affecting lives now.
Sure it may come to fruition in another 20 years. 30 years. But how many of us won’t be around to enjoy our rights 30 years from now? How many of us will suffer for those 30 years before rights are granted? People saying the advancement is slow and that it should take it’s time are full of crap. It is nothing but an excuse for them to not have to stick their neck out. To not stand up. It is cowardice.
It is time our politicians stood up for us.
It is time people recognize us as fellow human beings.
It is time to end this.
Repeal DADT, Repeal DOMA, Pass anti-discrimination legislation, and hate crime legislation. Allow gay marriage.
None of this harms anyone or the country in anyway. It will only make us all stronger.
How dare anyone ask me to put my life on hold for another 30 years. How dare they ask this of anyone?!
DOMA is a clearly unconstitutional and on its face and Mr. Obama knows it as a smart Constitutional Law Professor! It violates the Freedom of Association clause of the 1st Amendment, the 9th Amendment ,”Penumbra of Rights” doctrine to include the Right to Privacy and Pursuit of Happiness under “Griswald v Conn.& Lawrence v Texas ,” 5th & the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution’s Due Process & Equal Protection clauses by relegated LGBT people to second class US citizenship status
You know, “Truth,” I agree with you that equal rights must be fought for on ALL fronts. Really. But why aren’t most gay people on these blogs, forums, discussion boards, comment boards, etc. talking about general rights, why are they only talking (or talking the most) about marriage? There is a process to gaining rights that only BEGINS with the statement: We want it and we want it NOW! That is not the end. If it is the end for you… I’m sorry. Stamping your feet and flailing your fists does nothing but make you look like a petulant child. And what’s worse, it makes those you represent (because EVERYONE is a representative of some group) look like petulant children.
I want equality, I really do. And I want equality for my brethren. Obama deserves criticism, he deserves to be called out, but he -like every other person on the planet- deserves to be treated with the same measure of respect that we are demanding to be treated with. Name-calling again makes you look like a petulant child. Be angry! Be upset! But don’t be petulant about it, for the love of all that’s holy! Additionally, we as gay people need to stop treating Obama as though he is our only link to the federal government or to national legislation. We have congresspeople. We have commissioners. We have representatives in other offices than the presidency. Maybe it would behoove us all to start acting like it.
Yhitzak, shut the hell up.
PUSH, PUSH, PUSH UNTIL THE SYSTEM OF ANTIGAY APARTHEID FALLS.
OBAMA HAS WITH HIS DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR THE FEDERAL LEVEL OF DOMA HAS ENTRENCHED HIMSELF IN THE SYSTEM OF ANTIGAY APARTHEID. LET’S WRITE, E-MAIL AND CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS TO STATE OUR OPPOSITION TO OBAMA’S SUPPORT FOR THE FEDERAL DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT.
I only voted for Obama to get Biden in the White House. Biden has had MANY MORE YEARS of US senatorial experience than Obama. I vote very reluctantly for Obama, because I knew of his anti-marriage equality stance, just to avoid McCain. McCain wanted a constitutional amendment for CA and its neighboring state sharing common borders also in antigay “marital crime” AZ. That is why I would not vote for him plus with and after McCain, we’d spend the next 1,000 years still mucking around in Iraq until the next president saw fit to phase out and close down our time there.
I wanted Kucinich, the only candidate with any real progay guts and balls, the only guy to say screw political career and to actually support marriage equality in the US. Why he didn’t get the White House and Obaka did. Kucinich…the media hated him and the media favored its handsome golden boy Ovaka, all he has going for him right now is his handsome face and nothing else… that is why this land is not advancing forward, because he is ON THE WAY TO BECOME MORE GOP THAN SOME OF THE GOPS THEMSELVES!
The only reason I’d vote for him again is because he is against a US constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. Once we get one of those, YOU CAN KISS GOODBYE ALL THE YEARS OF PROGRESS. GONE WILL BE THE 6 STATES + WITH MARRIAGE EQUALITY, THE 3+ STATES AND DC WITH DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS, 1+ STATES WITH CIVIL UNIONS, THOSE STATES THAT ACTUALLY REFUSED THEIR OWN CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS: MARYLAND, INDIANA, WEST VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA (the + symbol stands for some hypothetical future state, etc that might enact support of some kind of same-sex relation)
Even though I don’t think that Obama would ever be a low as GW Bush was, it’s amazing how quickly he learned to fit right into the norm of our DC employees. AKA…. just because you promise, doesn’t mean you need to follow through. Where would he be now if Kennedy and Johnson had ignored promises to blacks? …. or if us “gay” people hadn’t voted for him?
Sure, “Yhitzak”, same-sex marriage equality is not our only issue. But neither was interracial marriage for Black people. But it was just as important. You can’t have “partial” Equal Rights.
We don’t have to fight this war for our equality on just one front. No wars are ever fought like that and won. We must fight it on ALL fronts until we wear the bastards down or until we shame them into the doing the correct and moral thing — i.e., give us our freedom and equality…NOW!!!!
That hypocritical, backstabbing scumbag in the White House would make Martin Luther King puke.
—————————–
Martin Luther King’s Legacy….
“Gay and Lesbian people have families and their families should have legal protections. A constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is a form of gay bashing and will do nothing at all to protect traditional marriage.” — Mrs. Coretta Scott King
Jack O’Dell, former Southern Christian Leadership Conference activist & aide to Dr. Martin Luther King states: “Dr. King would have fully supported Gay Marriage.”
…Coretta Scott King agreed.
================================
And Barack (O’Bush) Obama’s legacy:
…Just another mob-stroking, lying, self-centered, “ambition before honor” political whore.
Yep, Dr. King would be proud.
Because Obama is the only person in the federal government who has any kind of power, right? I’m sure this was totally, 100% about Obama’s desire to alienate a rather large portion of his electorate and had absolutely nothing at all to do with recommendations from advisors, the NECESSITY of functioning within the parameters of laws that already exist, or independent decisions made by the DoJ that if the president didn’t somehow go along with might have created a massive, internal conflict that doesn’t just affect us gay people, it might affect the whole of the nation. Yes, it is true that Obama is not exactly fulfilling his rather outrageous campaign promises. Yes, it is true that he lied about being a ‘fierce’ advocate of GLBT issues. Gay rights don’t end OR begin with marriage, and the idea that so very, very many gay people are focused on marriage like it’s the only thing that will give us equality is annoying to say the bloody least.
Gay people are not Obama’s only constituents. Marriage is not the only issue on the gay-rights agenda. Good lord, this “community” needs help…
The brief filed by the Justice Department is shameful. They ought to be embarrassed by it. How disappointing this administration has turned out to be. At least we had no expectations of the Republicans.
“that awarding federal marriage benefits to gays would infringe on the rights of taxpayers in the 30 states that specifically prohibit same-sex marriages”
Could someone explain what rights would be infringed upon and how? This statement sounds like the the same doublespeak we get from the religious right.
riobella, “We The People” has never really been for all the people. Some day I hope we are added to the list of people that were included over time but I am loosing faith in Obama being the one to do it.
Riobella, apparently Obama never read that part.. or he doesn’t believe in it.
We shouldn’t need legislation for gay people to get married. The phrase is “We the People”, not “we the straight people”