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Loading ...Neff: Defending the indefensible
I get that the Justice Department defends congressional laws in court, and that it would be extraordinary for Justice not to defend a law.
But did GLBT citizens not expect the extraordinary from this new administration? Wasn’t that the promise made repeatedly during that lengthy primary process?We’ve seen bold, extraordinary steps from President Barack Obama and his administration on other issues, in other arenas, but last week’s offering to GLBT federal employees was meager, not extraordinary.
The official White House Pride proclamation fell far short of even ordinary — a bland, empty statement from a man known worldwide for eloquent and convincing pronouncements.
And the Justice Department’s recently filed defense of the Defense of Marriage Act? The same old same old — an indefensible defense of an indefensible law that yes, once again compared same-sex marriage to incestuous family relationships.
Same-sex couples can now legally marry in Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and a number of same-sex couples legally married in California before Proposition 8 was passed and upheld by the state’s high court.
Those couples have access to the same state rights and benefits of married heterosexual couples in their states, but not to the more than 1,000 federal rights and benefits, including, perhaps most importantly, the right to Social Security survivors’ benefits.
This is because the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and allows states to refuse to recognize such marriages from other states.
DOMA states, “In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”
The Justice Department is strongly defending DOMA against a legal challenge brought by a same-sex couple married in California last July.
Arguments have been made that the couple’s case is weak, that it is not the best suit to advance through the courts and take down DOMA.
Maybe so, but Justice’s intolerable brief defends banning federal benefits for married same-sex couples claiming that to continue to do so is cheaper for the government; that DOMA is a policy of government “neutrality;” that DOMA is consistent with due process and equal protection principles guaranteed in the Constitution.
Justice argues that it is OK to deny federal marriage benefits from gay married couples because heterosexual marriages are “the traditional and uniformly-recognized form of marriage” and that DOMA protects federal taxpayers “in other states to subsidize a form of marriage that their own states do not recognize.” In other words, Justice has interpreted the quest for equal protection as a quest for freebies of some sort.
I’ll remind you that Obama once called DOMA “abhorrent,” a characterization that could be applied to Justice’s brief.
During his presidential campaign, Obama said he would be a fierce advocate of DOMA’s repeal. There is nothing on the record to suggest he has done anything to dump DOMA.
So now, what can we expect from the administration in the next week, when the Justice Department is due to file its response in a suit brought by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders on behalf of married same-sex couples in Massachusetts?
Sadly, I think we cannot expect anything extraordinary. Sadly, I think we can expect the same old same old discrimination. To quote White House spokesman Shin Inouye: “Until Congress passes legislation repealing the law, the administration will continue to defend the statute when it is challenged in the justice system.”
The Bush administration lost two court cases claiming executive privilege to prevent the public from knowing who was visiting the White House. Now President Obama is claiming the same privilege. Does he fear letting people know what religious zealots he’s courting?
Another great 365gay column from Neff. Thank you. I’m just glad I never jumped on the obama cult bandwagon. Sure I’m still screwed like everyone else but at least I wasn’t fooled.
Congress has its share of guilt, but in general they came in following the example set by Obama. Now it seems like they’re slowly beginning to realize the very awkward truth: they’re going to have to do something that removes discrimination for gays, and not doing something is already having an impact on fundraising. In the last couple of elections, Dems have had a financial advantage. They know they can’t afford to blow that. Meanwhile, our first nonwhite President presses on in a cloud of willful ignorance, and he stokes our anger with his passive-aggressive combination of bland announcements and unnecessary support of discriminatory laws. Obama will do exactly nothing for gays unless outside pressure pushes the Dems to push him. That pressure is already on.
Marc in Colorado Said:
“I am so frustrated, because at 62 years of age, and after years of a political system that seemed to have ended up in the dumper and to be of no real use for the average American citizen, I grabbed desperately to the offered “hope.” Boy, do I feel stupid — because my being fooled was of my own doing.
Shame on me.”
Do not be ashamed, Marc. The quality having having hope and faith in people is nothing to be ashamed of. It simply makes you a better human, because you have the ability to treat people as people. That one could sacrifice that for an ends is no victory at all.
Consider me as an alternative. I did not vote for Obama. Imagine if he would have been a tenth of what people expected, and I was wrong about him. What would that make me? really,- what?
I’m sorry that people misjudged and were defrauded, but for gods sake, please remember that your hope is the treasure of our future, not my cynicism.
And thank you for voting period. Were it not for his election by the full faith of our people, we wouldn’t know a fraction of what we do now about his friends.
Thank you. You should be proud of your decency. And it is worth defending, sir.
>But did GLBT citizens not expect the extraordinary from this new administration? Wasn’t that the promise made repeatedly during that lengthy primary process?
No.
He promised ending DADT, ending DOMA, passing ENDA, and passing expanded hate crimes. If he manages to do 3/4 of this agenda in the first term, that will be “extraordinary” when compared with how little we’ve gotten from other administrations.
He never promised not to defend current law. He never promised that any of these things would be done in the first six months.
He still has the potential to deliver something extraordinary. You guys are dinging him for not being Uber-Extraordinary, and the intensity and lack of logic of it all is bordering on the ridiculous.
Frankly, I’m *glad* his extraordinary efforts went toward the economy, GITMO/torture, repairing our International standing, and getting a start on health-care reform. Sounds like the right set of priorities to me for his first six months.
Barricade,
O please keep that proud mess to yourself Mr. David Duke. As for your “history” lesson, that’s strange coming from a man who felt a need to write these lines:
“Gays are OBummer’s niggers.”
“I am a proud Gay man who is tired of being treated like a nigger.”
You are some little racist boy who gets a thrill out of the n word. And by the way, mr. historian last time I checked being “treated like a nigger” meant you could not vote. Were you turned away from the polls in November?
You want to give Obama grief. Go at it! Join the club. You want to engage in some racial crap, please take it somewhere else.
Peace.
James, I am far from Klan. I am a proud Gay man who is tired of being treated like a nigger. A black president should understand equality but apparently OBummer doesn’t. Where would he be without the courage of the Kennedys and LBJ. On the back of the bus, where he wants us.
Dear Barricade,
Do me a favor please? Take your Klan silliness somewhere else.
James
Gays are OBummer’s niggers. He just wants someone to oppress. We are easy targets, no one but Gays gives a damn.
Obama didn’t make any campaign “promises” to GLBT people or otherwise; he made statements which were, frankly, rather outlandish. He said he was a “fierce advocate” of GLBT people, he said that the only thing required to repeal DOMA and DADT was leadership (if you really believed that, I’m just sorry for you), but he stopped short of saying anything as explicit as, “As president, I promise to repeal all discriminatory policies and legislation.” He made statements about his interest in advancing equal rights for gay people, but stopped short of actually *promising* those things. Like several other commentators have suggested, he is a politician and politicians lie to get votes.
Everything starts out small, all major movements are achieved through baby steps. Equal rights for GLBT people will not be won in a day or in a single piece of legislation. What Obama did in extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees might have been a small step, but it was still a step in the right direction. Instead of saying, “Screw you, this isn’t good enough,” maybe we might try saying, “Thank you, now we’d like some MORE equality.”
This battle for equality requires patience AND vigilance. It also requires honesty. President Obama is not the DoJ, and everyone within the DoJ has his or her own opinion. Washington politics aren’t embodied by the president alone, and the president’s politics are not necessarily shared by the remainder of Washington. This back-and-forth between the White House and the DoJ (and the news media) illustrates the really tricky nature of passing legislation, especially legislation regarding civil rights.
Obama and the DoJ deserve genuine criticism for their implicit or covert support of policies like DOMA and DADT. They deserve to be criticized for their conflicting statements and constantly changing opinions, but they don’t need to be slammed for not being “extraordinary.” That idea would make me laugh if it weren’t so outrageously pathetic. (Can anyone think of an “extraordinary” politician anywhere? And when politicians are not “extraordinary,” do you feel inclined to bash them all, Ms. Neff? You must live a life of constant disappointment.) And what we got wasn’t “meager,” either, it was more than any previous president offered us and it’s more than we had this time last month. I’m certainly NOT suggesting that we say, “Oh, that’s great, we’re good now.” But now that we’ve got our foot in the door, it’s not the time to sneer at any given olive branch being offered our way. It’s time to accept it and give a statement of further intent. This isn’t the end, folks. It’s not even close.
President Obama’s administration reminds me of Jimmy Carter’s administraion. At least Carter was willing to tell the American people that he could not do what he promised. President Obama told us what we wanted to hear, eloquently I might add. He even had his own infomercial. He told young voters what they wanted to hear. He told old voters what they wanted to hear. He told everyone what they wanted to hear, all the while shouting messages of change.
Well, we all fell for it.
I think that it is time for us all in the GLBT community to stop blaming the past administration (as much as it pains me to say that) for leaving the current one a mess to clean up. It is the job of the current administration to clean up that mess as it will be the job of the next administration to clean up after President Obama. Not everthing is so black and white (no puns intended).
It is time for us to have one message. 10%/30 million strong! To actually unite and tell the current administration and any administration after, that we will not stand by and watch them do nothing about outright discrimination, outright Homophobia, outright bigotry.
DATD, as far as I know, can be abolished with a simple order from the Commander in Chief. He does run the armed forces of the United States. DADT is a rule, not a law. It is time to stop arguing and sitting in committee after committee. What are they afraid of, thousands of screaming queens in camo and heels running to join the military… As funny as that would be, the military can refuse to let anyone join without giving them a reason, and besides what queen do you know that would survive boot camp?!?
As for DOMA, President Obama has consistently sidestepped the issue relying on the “it is up to the states” line. Well Iowa, California (for a short while at least), and most of New England have already legalized SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. I know that it is not an overwhelming majority, but if you include states that have enacted civil-union and domestic partnership laws we are closer than we think. It is high time that the current administration acknowledge the 10%/30 million strong GLBT community and demand that congress either repeal DOMA altogether or at least change the language to force all states to recognize Same-Sex unions (wether civil, domestic or marriage). No this doesn’t get us those 1000+ federal benefits, but you and I will not have to worry about our rights as couples. As I said before not everything is so black and white, however a simple demand, even if it is completely ignored by congress as it probably will be (except by Barney Frank), tells us that the change promised to us all is real. We can touch it, taste it, and by God we can hear it in a speach that maybe reminds us of Eisenhower, Kennedy or Reagan at the Berlin Wall… These speeches didn’t change anything overnight, but they planted the seeds of change and if all hat President Obama is willing to give us is seeds then I for one will take them.
Well I still believe Gravel would’ve kept his word.
Get over Obama. He is an opportunist, and did not – OBVIOUSLY – mean a word he said in his inaugural speech about equality for all; after all, he had Rick Warren standing in the wings. Take a clue from the Iranian Freedom Fighters, set down your Long Island iced teas, and kick some hyprocritical, theofascist, lying ass. It is not our pride that should be burning but, rather, hegemonic control.
Dear Dems:
We’ve closed our wallets.
We won’t walk the precincts.
We won’t work the phones.
We did our part.
Now you do yours.
Signed,
All of us.