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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 can’t believe that the US is still fighting about marriage rights. We’ve had same-sex marriage in Canada for almost 6 years now and our country hasn’t imploded. We’ve moved on to more important issues and I hope that one day same-sex marriage will become legal in all states and that the US government and homophobic religious institutions can spend their money on more important causes.
A number of people commenting on this article defend Obama stating that as long as the statute is on the books, that he has to defend it. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE! Please read the following article:
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/nonexcut.htm
and you will see that the President, in fact, does not have to defend a statute which he believes is unconstitutional. There are also a number of other articles which you can find by googling this question.
Professor of Law Emeritus Donald Gaudard
To all of my fellow gays who voted for Obama. “I told you so”!!! It appeared that most of my immediate circle of friends went over to the “enlightened one” early on, leaving me completely isolated and cast as a bigot for not sharing the love. Rather that cast their votes upon a candidate who had a proven and long record of working to improve the lives of our community, they bought the hype of a complete unknown, untested, and untried candidate with no experience in anything whatsoever, other than being superficial–a branding that has been thrown–acurateley it seems, on us. This is so grim. We have been betrayed.
Let me get this straight…. Tax payers are benefiting from us paying taxes….. but we can’t benefit from paying taxes. I smell a big unfair pile of BS!
Send Obama an email with your objections. We should be flooding Obama’s site with emails objecting to the Justice Dept’s position on this!
Obama, and the Justice Department feel that to grant same sex couples social security benefits, etc, would ‘infringe’ upon the rights of…Wait a minute! Every time I look, I have the Federal Government with its hand out for my money in the form of taxes. Maybe they should pull those greedy hands back, and let me keep my money! I really disllike having my money taken and then having my ‘Inaliable Rights’ withheld from me because I am gay.
It looks like I may have to vote for a third party president in the next election.
I believe that the DOJ is required to fight to uphold the Constitution, not to fight to uphold existing laws. The California Attorney General did not defend Proposition 8 because it is not his duty to fight for an unconstitutional law.
California AG says Prop. 8 violates 14th Amendment:
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/06/13/12099
Believe me folks if the FMA ever crossed Massah Obama’s desk he would sign it IN A HEARTBEAT!! keep supporting the “democrats” folks, I mean after all they’re not like ultra conservatives or anything like that, right?
These legal opinions are less scholarly than those used by the Bush administration to legalize torture. Obama is just another politician. I voted for him, but in my score cared, I’ve not got many reasons to tell me that I should do so again. He’s got some ’splainin to do,
Good God! I am usually more of a proponent of educating people to win our rights…. But Obama is really working on my last nerve. I think it is time to take to the streets in mass. If he wont live up to his promises and wants to double talk then it is time we pull those policies out into the light and show their ugly faces so that all the country can see clearly the true intent of this administration. I am sickened that we didnt have a better candidate in the general election last year. STAND UP PEOPLE. ITS GETTING PRETTY DAMNED CRITICAL THAT WE START TAKING ACTION!! Every member of the GLBT community and every person that supports equality for all citizens needs to be at a “Million Gay March” event near them at the end of this month. The hypocrisy that this man represents is beginning to make me sick.
JP: To be fair, most of the Western world is still fighting about marriage. Canada is the exception, not the rule.
Sold down the river again! Does Obama believe should bring racism and slavery back? That is what he is doing to our community. Once again, I call for all of us to revolt and take to the streets. We MUST act now or the Obamites wiil feed us to the right-wingers. LGBT Power to the people!
The theory of “defending the sanctity of marriage” by preventing gays and lesbians from marrying has never held any water. If that were the case, how come Sanctity Champions are not picketing TV studios that produce “reality” TV shows that cake a complete mockery out of the whole thing? I mean, a while back there was such show as “Who Wants to Marry a Midget?”
The problem is not really Gay Marriage; it’s Gays period.
What I find unsettling is how Obama is hesitant to speak out clearly about our issues, be it DOMA or DODT. He spoke of doing these things during the campaign, and he won by a landslide, so there were no surprises, but unfortunately he seems to worry about backlash from Republicans in Congress or conservatives at Defense. He won being vocal and supportive of these issues. But now that he’s president, seems to have taken a few steps back. I truly hope that is not the case, but it does appear that way. He seems to want to garner favor with those who didn’t vote for him or support us, rather than show valiant support for all those who wholeheartedly did support him. I am also tired of hearing people say “Obama doesn’t support same sex marriage either”, and so our enemy’s opinions and Obama’s position are aligned. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. He still has about 3 years, 7 months to go. I still pray he does the right thing at last.