The
Human Rights Campaign on Friday praised Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy’s announcement that the panel would
soon hold a markup on the bill to repeal the discriminatory Defense of
Marriage Act. DOMA bans the federal government from recognizing legally
married same-sex couples and denies loving and committed families equal
benefits and equal dignity.
“This markup is an incredible step
toward ending federal marriage discrimination that causes real harm to
American families,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Chairman Leahy
and Senator Feinstein have been leaders in this fight and we applaud
them for continuing the momentum against this unjust law.”
The Respect for Marriage Act – the
DOMA repeal bill – had a hearing before the committee in July where HRC
President Joe Solmonese testified. It was the first time that DOMA had a
hearing in Congress since its enactment 15 years ago and this markup
represents another historic first.
“The federal government shouldn’t be
in the business of picking which marriages it likes and which it
doesn’t, but that’s exactly what DOMA does,” said Solmonese. “The
reality of DOMA is heart-wrenching discrimination against loving
families.”
DOMA prevents any of the over 1,100
federal rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage from being
afforded to legally married same-sex couples. These include Social
Security survivor benefits, federal employee health benefits for
spouses, protections against spouses losing their homes in cases of
severe medical emergencies, the right to sponsor a foreign born partner
for immigration, the guarantee of family and medical leave and the
ability to file joint tax returns, among many others. 51 percent of
voters oppose DOMA while only 34 percent favor it, according to a March
2011 poll by HRC and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.