The Obama Justice Department acknowledged today for the first time that laws meant to preclude gay marriage are, simply put, wrong.
In a brief filed this morning in the case of a gay couple suing the federal government for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that prohibits gay marriage, the Justice Department said:
This administration does not support DOMA as a matter of policy, believes that it is discriminatory, and supports its repeal.
That is a departure, for sure, from the George W. Bush administration but the bottom line is the same. Because DOMA is federal law, the Justice Department is sworn to defend it. So, in the second half of its brief this morning, the government lawyers said:
Consistent with the rule of law, however, the Department of Justice has long followed the practice of defending federal statutes as long as reasonable arguments can be made in support of their constitutionality, even if the Department disagrees with a particular statute as a policy matter, as it does here.
When word first leaked in June that DOJ was planning to defend DOMA, gay rights activists were furious. Amid the outcry, the Justice Department has now toned down its defense, publicly noting its view that the law discriminates against gay Americans.
Today, the Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This brief makes clear, however, that my Administration believes that the Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress. I have long held that DOMA prevents LGBT couples from being granted equal rights and benefits. While we work with Congress to repeal DOMA, my Administration will continue to examine and implement measures that will help extend rights and benefits to LGBT couples under existing law.
-- Johanna Neuman
Photo: Two women kiss during annual Gay Pride activities in Paris in June. Credit: Associated Press
The subject was raised indirectly by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley did not mention same-sex marriage directly, but that was the implication when he asked Sonia Sotomayor about a court ruling that said Minnesota could deny a marriage license to two men. Did she agree, he asked, that the case, Baker vs. Nelson, reserved the question of marriage to the states?
In Baker, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that two men could be denied a marriage license because Minnesota law limited marriage to men and women.
As she has with other topics, Sotomayor said she couldn’t comment because questions about marriage are pending in many courts and might reach the Supreme Court.
Grassley challenged her on that point. He wondered aloud why she couldn’t comment on Baker because it’s legal precedent. He noted that on Tuesday she said that Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion, was an established legal precedent. If she could characterize the status of Roe, he asked, why not Baker?
The judge replied that she had not reviewed Baker in some time but offered to review the case overnight and report on it Thursday. Grassley said he would welcome that.
Remarks by President Obama at the LGBT Pride Month White House Reception, June 29, 2009
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Hello, hello, hello. (Applause.) Hey! Good to see you. (Applause.) I'm waiting for FLOTUS here. FLOTUS always politics more than POTUS.
MRS. OBAMA: No, you move too slow. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: It is great to see everybody here today and they're just -- I've got a lot of friends in the room, but there are some people I want to especially acknowledge. First of all, somebody who helped ensure that we are in the White House, Steve Hildebrand. Please give Steve a big round of applause. (Applause.) Where's Steve? He's around here somewhere. (Applause.)
The new chair of the Export-Import Bank, Fred Hochberg. (Applause.) Where's Fred? There's Fred. Good to see you, Fred. Our Director of the Institute of Education Sciences at DOE, John Easton. Where's John? (Applause.) A couple of special friends -- Bishop Gene Robinson. Where's Gene? (Applause.) Hey, Gene. Ambassador Michael Guest is here. (Applause.) Ambassador Jim Hormel is here. (Applause.) Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown is here. (Applause.) All of you are here. (Laughter and applause.) Welcome to your White House. (Applause.) So.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Somebody asked from the Lincoln Bedroom here. (Laughter.) You knew I was from Chicago too. (Laughter.)
It's good to see so many friends and familiar faces, and I deeply appreciate the support I've received from so many of you. Michelle appreciates it and I want you to know that you have our support as well. (Applause.) And you have my thanks for the work you do every day in pursuit of ...
Washington. Mandarin Oriental Hotel. LGBT fundraiser. Hauled in about $1 mill. 33% better than last year with Michelle Obama.
Maybe four dozen protesters outside, impatient with the Obama administration's perceived slow pace on lesbian and gay issues. Signs: "SHAME." "Gay Uncle Toms." Chants: "Shame on You." "Boycott the Bigots."
Inside, Biden spoke 20 mins. Lots of applause. "I am not unaware of the controversy swirling around this dinner and swirling around the speed or lack thereof that we are moving on issues that are of great importance to you."
Boasted the new administration has appointed 60 gays or lesbians, including nine requiring Senate confirmation. Promised to "put some pace on the ball."
Standing ovations as he pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell and get passage of the Lieberman-Baldwin bill on health benefits.
Additionally, Biden promised to put a ban on workplace discrimination, get adoption rights for all and end the HIV travel ban.
Biden also praised Tim Kaine as the "great governor of New Jersey."
One problem: Tim Kaine's not governor of New Jersey.
Jon Corzine (right) is governor of New Jersey (Remember, he didn't wear his seatbelt in the state patrol car for the big high-speed crash).
Tim Kaine is governor of another state, called Virginia.
He's also chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
The president made his remarks (full transcript below of his remarks and the actual memo along with a list of guests present) seated at his desk in the Oval Office and surrounded by a dozen human rights activists and legislators. As predicted by the Ticket earlier today, even Vice President Joe Biden was there after a morning speech and busy day of private meetings.
The president singled out for citation several members of Congress, including Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank and Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins. Obama handed the pen he used to Frank Kameny, a gay rights activist.
The president also vowed to work with Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act as discriminatory and interfering with states rights. But no further word on changing the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy toward sexual orientation. Defense and administration officials have made it clear privately that change is not on the horizon.
Remarks by President Obama at signing of a Presidential Memorandum on Federal benefits and non-discrimination, June 17, 2009, Oval Office
THE PRESIDENT: Well, today I'm proud to issue a presidential memorandum that paves the way for long-overdue progress in our nation's pursuit of equality.
Many of our government's hard-working, dedicated, and patriotic public servants have long been denied basic rights that their colleagues enjoy for one simple reason -- the people that they love are of the same sex.
Currently, for example, LGBT federal employees can't always use sick leave to care for their domestic partners or their partners' children. Their partners aren't covered under long-term care insurance. Partners of American Foreign Service officers abroad aren't treated the same way when....
The incumbent, Democrat Ellen Tauscher, has yet to resign from California's 10th congressional seat.
Nominated by President Obama to be undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, Tauscher is expected to leave Congress as soon as the Senate confirms her.
Meanwhile, so many political wannabes are eying the seat that it makes you wonder if every politician just wants to leave for Washington before California's financial crisis dooms the state to a backwater economy.
State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat from Concord, has strong labor support and backing from Tauscher and Democrat George Miller in the reliably Democratic district. At first, he was considered the favorite, although Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, working on support from Emily's List, claimed to have a narrow lead.
Then California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi decided not to run for governor but to seek Tauscher's congressional seat instead, presaging a fight among big names.
Amid the heavyweights, a new entry into the race is now stirring notice.
Anthony Woods, a West Point graduate who was awarded the Bronze Star for his leadership in Iraq in 2003, is a gay African American who left the military rather than continue lying about his sexual orientation under the Pentagon's “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The decision cost him a court martial and a $35,000 price tag to repay the Army for his education.
"It's a small price to pay for being honest," he said.
Ironically, Tauscher has been one of the leaders trying to overturn the Clinton-era policy that allowed gays to serve in the military as long as they stayed in the closet about their sexual orientation.
“I
actually haven’t had a chance to meet her,” Woods told the Hill, “but when I do, I owe her a big
thank-you for her stance ... and her leadership, specifically on the
issue of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ ”
Hoping to teach economics at West Point, Woods reflected during his time at the Kennedy School that he was "not about to go back to an
environment where I have to lie to my commanders, to my soldiers and my
friends about who I am and what I’m doing." Now, he's decided to run for Congress.
Born at Travis Air Force Base, Woods is an only child whose mother's "lively" political opinion informed his childhood. One early political memory: sticking a Mike Dukakis for President poster in his bedroom as an 8-year-old.
“I had to
experience what it’s like to have my dreams and my career ripped away
from me because of my orientation,” he said. “I have suffered as a result of bad
policy situations, and I know firsthand what it’s like to have
something that’s important to you taken away, and I’m going to fight
vigorously for my district as well as the various communities that I am
a part of.”
Dick Cheney was largely silent on the issue of gay marriage during his eight years as vice president under George W. Bush. In a 2004 vice presidential debate with Democratic candidate John Edwards, for example, Cheney wouldn't say what he thought about a constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to a woman and a man.
But in a speech today at the National Press Club, Cheney supported gay marriage, saying, "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."
Cheney, who has a gay daughter, said he thought states should get to decide what constitutes marriage. For more on what he said, check out our colleagues at The Swamp.
During the Bush years, Cheney made most of his political maneuverings behind the scenes. But he's been a veritable chatter-box since leaving office.
In a Fox News interview that will air tonight, Cheney dropped a few other lines that are sure to generate buzz. Among them: his denial that Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Bush White House, you may remember, used Iraq's supposed ties to Al Qaeda as one of its justifications to invade the country in 2003.
The rest of the interview will air on "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" at 7 p.m. Pacific.
That’s the provocative question The Times' On the Media columnist James Rainey raises today. He notes that some journalists believe it’s their duty to reveal the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian officials who support policies that many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community would oppose. Says Rainey:
I hear the reporters' righteous indignation. I understand their claims of hypocrisy. And yet a reporting experience from years ago makes me urge journalists to proceed with caution, as National Public Radio did in recent days, when reporting people's sexual orientation against their wishes.
As late as 1993, voters in Los Angeles still had not elected an openly gay candidate to the City Council. It seemed a good bet that the barrier would fall that year because a couple of gay candidates were among the front-runners in the 13th District, which includes Hollywood. The Times assigned me to cover the race, and I soon learned that those candidates, Michael Weinstein and Conrado Terrazas, had been telling other gay activists that former school board member Jackie Goldberg was less worthy because she had never made a formal public declaration that she was a lesbian.
Rainey also notes the release this month of “Outrage,” a documentary which argues that many office holders are in the closet. Earlier this month, Tina Daunt, our Cause Celebre columnist, called the film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick a “biting new political documentary.” She noted that it “candidly explores the murky intersection between private lives and public conduct.” Daunt also writes:
Dick's thesis is that Washington's closeted homosexual lawmakers, most of them members of the GOP, staunchly -- often stridently -- oppose equal rights measures for gays because they're anxious to conceal their own sexual orientation. He also shares a sentiment voiced by openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts who told the filmmakers that his Republican colleagues have "a right to privacy, but there's no right to hypocrisy." So in that spirit, the film does what no mainstream cinematic treatment of this issue has done before: It names names.
While Californians plot their next moves in the battle over gay marriage, activists in Nevada are struggling to secure rights for domestic partners.
Despite their libertarian leanings, Nevada voters twice backed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. But the Legislature recently passed a bill that bestows domestic partners – gay and straight – with essentially the same rights as married couples. Republican Gov. Jim Gibbonsvetoed the bill -- saying only voters should grant marriage-like rights to unmarried couples – and it’s unclear whether the bill’s supporters can round up enough votes to override it.
But the bill has some powerful backers -- the state’s gaming companies, which are sometimes referred to as Nevada’s Fourth Estate, who are alarmed that, if it fails, LGBT tourists might boycott the Strip.
In the early '90s, gay-rights supporters called for a boycott of Colorado after voters approved a ban on anti-discrimination laws protecting gays and lesbians. Officials said the state lost millions of dollars in convention business. In a recent letter to Nevada lawmakers, Jan Jones, senior vice president of Harrah’s Entertainment, pointedly said the financially ailing state couldn’t afford “to lose any more revenue to other destinations because of a reputation as a place which is not socially or politically the right place to do business or to vacation.”
And MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman recently told The Advocate, a leading gay publication: “We make a very real, concerted effort on a lot of these issues, and to have the sense that you're fighting against your own state is very frustrating.”
Another of the bill's supporters, incidentally, is someone who knows both the downs and the ups of marriage: Dawn Gibbons, the governor's estranged wife.
-- Ashley Powers
Top photo: Las Vegas' iconic welcome sign. Credit: Associated Press. Bottom photo: Jim Gibbons. Credit: Associated Press
(UPDATE: This item has been updated with additional reactions since its original posting.)
Speaking of courts,as you may have heard, California's top court in a lopsided 6-1 vote upheld Proposition 8's passage, effectively banning same-sex marriage.
The court's eagerly anticipated decision set off demonstrations in San Francisco, ignited a ton of public reaction and in California's ongoing experiment with direct democracy, could set off yet another proposition to overturn the initial proposition.
Prop. 8 was passed by voter initiative 52% 18 months ago but seemingly overturned by the appeals court last summer. Today's Supreme Court ruling unanimously said the 18,000 same-sex marriages that occurred in the interim remain valid.
“While I believe that one day either the people or courts will recognize gay marriage, as governor of California I will uphold the decision of the California Supreme Court. Regarding the 18,000 marriages that took place prior to Proposition 8’s passage, the court made the right decision in keeping them intact. I also want to encourage all those responding to today’s court decision to do so peacefully and lawfully.”
Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign: "I am disappointed the Court ruled to deny marriage equality to Californians. These are fundamental constitutional rights that cannot be ...
