HRC delivers DOMA demands to Congress

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today launched a campaign to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies legally married same-sex couples more than 1,000 federal protections and responsibilities. As part of the campaign, HRC launched a national action alert, an interactive website, RepealDOMAnow.org, and delivered to Congress nearly 50,000 survey responses showing the concrete harms DOMA brings to the lives of LGBT Americans and their families. A bill is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House as early as next week. To view HRC Legislative Director Allison Herwitt delivering the surveys to Congress visit www.HRCBackStory.org.

“Now is the time to let Congress and President Obama know that DOMA must go. The introduction of a bill to repeal DOMA with this unprecedented momentum behind it will mark a tidal shift in this fight,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “This hurtful and discriminatory law denies millions of Americans federal recognition of marriage and the critical rights and benefits that come with it – Social Security survivors' benefits, equal treatment under U.S. immigration laws, the right to take leave to care for a spouse, and more. It is more important than ever to push for repeal of DOMA.”


Read more after the jump.

Nearly 50,000 people participated in a membership survey commissioned in August by the Human Rights Campaign that asked a series of questions on DOMA repeal. To view the survey, visit: www.hrc.org/DOMASurvey.

In the past year, tens of thousands of loving same-sex couples have legally been married in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. And with new laws soon to take effect in New Hampshire and Maine, thousands more will surely join them. Enacted in 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act purports to allow states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

DOMA also creates a federal definition of "marriage" and "spouse" for the first time in our country's history. This is an unprecedented intrusion by the U.S. Congress into an area traditionally left to the states. Marriage is defined as a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife," and spouse is defined as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife." Marriages that do not fit this description are not be eligible for any benefits offered by the federal government. Under DOMA, even same-sex couples lawfully married under the laws of their states are ineligible for numerous rights, benefits, and responsibilities, including those related to Social Security, immigration, family and medical leave, joint taxation, federal employee benefits and many more.



Lawsuit challenging federal marriage ban is thrown out of court

A lawsuit challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act has been dismissed by a federal judge in Southern California on the grounds that the plaintiffs had not shown "an injury in fact" from the marriage ban. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, in a seven-page decision, wrote that the suit can be refiled to allow a different federal court to review whether it is constitutional.

Land Hudson talks about Bill Clinton

Blogger Lane Hudson, who interrupted a speech by former President Bill Clinton to ask about his role in signing into law both the Defense of Marriage Act and the military gay ban, talks about his reasons for putting Clinton the spot and whether he got the answers he sought.

"The point of my question was not to hash up something from 1993 or 1996," Hudson said. "It was to talk about now."

President Obama: DOMA is discriminatory

The White House Office of Media Affairs has just released the following statement from President Obama regarding the Smelt v. United States brief, which is a legal challenge to the anti-gay marriage Defense of Marriage Act:

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.

Tell Congress how the Defense of Marriage Act affects you

The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996 to prevent Federal recognition of gay marriages.

Click here to take HRC's Defense of Marriage Act (the one that prevents Federal recognition of gay marriages) survey and let Congress know how this discriminatory and unfair law affects you and your loved ones.

Massachusetts becomes first state to challenge DOMA

The state of Massachusetts has filed a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act on the grounds that the act, by denying key rights and benefits to gay and lesbian couples, usurps the authority of the state government to regulate marriage. The Bay State, which was the first to enact marriage equality, also is the first to try to overturn the federal law.

Congressman Polis issues statement on DOMA

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) issued the following statement recently in response to the Obama Administration’s decision to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in a recent court filing.

“I was shocked and disappointed to learn that President Obama chose to defend DOMA in federal court, especially given his campaign promise to call for a full repeal of DOMA. My sadness turned to outrage when I read the Justice Department’s brief that not only defended this hurtful law but seemed to embrace it. Comparing my loving relationship with my partner, Marlon, to incest was unconscionable coming from a president who has called for change.

Since this filing, I have called on the President to issue a statement or give any sign that would clarify his position and am disappointed in his lack of reply.

I am a proud Democrat, as are many in the GLBT community, and I believe we must hold our leaders accountable. The Obama Administration made a HUGE mistake in the DOMA brief. If they keep making mistakes like this, they risk losing the support of the GLBT community forever, although I do not believe we are at that point yet.

President Obama needs to honor his promise to repeal this law and end its needlessly divisive and harmful impact on our nation. I again call on him to work with us in Congress to help pass legislation, ending this hateful and divisive law.

As the New York Times editorialized yesterday, “busy calendars and political expediency are no excuse for making one group of Americans wait any longer for equal rights.”

Obama releases statement on benefits for gay Federa employees - and his intention to repeal DOMA

In a statement released today President Obama said:

In 2007, Michael Guest, the first openly gay Ambassador confirmed by the United States Senate, resigned from the Foreign Service. He loved his career, but he had to leave it in the end -- because he believed that the country he served was failing to implement the principles of equality it espoused abroad. His partner was ineligible for training provided to Ambassadorial spouses; he bore the costs of his partner's transportation to his placements abroad; and his partner did not receive the overseas benefits and allowances given to spouses of Ambassadors.

It is too late to prevent Ambassador Guest from having to make the choice he made, but today I am proud to issue a Presidential Memorandum that will go a long way toward achieving equality for many of the hard-working, dedicated, and patriotic LGBT Americans serving in our Federal Government -- Americans like Ambassador Guest. In consultation with Secretary Clinton, who in her role as Secretary of State oversees our foreign service employees, and Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, who oversees human resource management for our civil service employees, my Administration has identified a number of areas in which greater equality can be achieved under existing law by extending to the same-sex partners of Federal employees many of the same benefits already available to the spouses of heterosexual Federal employees. I am therefore requesting the Secretary of State and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to extend the benefits they have identified to the same-sex partners of Federal employees where doing so can be achieved consistent with Federal law. I am also requesting the heads of all other executive departments and agencies to conduct a review of the benefits they administer to determine which may legally be extended to same-sex partners.

Read the rest after the jump.



But this Presidential Memorandum is just a start. Unfortunately, my Administration is not authorized by existing Federal law to provide same-sex couples with the full range of benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples. That's why I stand by my long-standing commitment to work with Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. It's discriminatory, it interferes with States' rights, and it's time we overturned it.

I am also proud to announce my support for an important piece of legislation introduced in both Houses of Congress last month -- the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009. This legislation will extend to the same-sex partners of Federal employees the same benefits already enjoyed by the opposite-sex spouses of Federal employees. The legislation has a number of co-sponsors in both Houses of Congress, but among those many sponsors, I want to recognize one in particular -- Representative Tammy Baldwin, who has been a real leader on this issue, and more broadly on the LGBT struggle for equality. Representative Baldwin, I look forward to working with you to achieve the important objectives set out in this bill as it moves through the legislative process. I also look forward to working with the bill's Senate champions, Senators Lieberman and Collins; I know that they will approach this process with the same spirit of cooperation in pursuit of our shared goals that they bring to all of their work in the Senate.

Extending equal benefits to the same-sex partners of Federal employees is the right thing to do. It is also sound economic policy. Many top employers in the private sector already offer benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees; those companies recognize that offering partner benefits helps them compete for and retain the brightest and most talented employees. The Federal Government is at a disadvantage on that score right now, and change is long overdue.

As Americans, we are all affected when our promises of equality go unfulfilled. Through measures like the Presidential Memorandum I am issuing today and the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, we will advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded and continue to perfect our Union.






Obama Administration defends discriminatory DOMA

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued a statement Friday regarding the Obama Administration’s decision to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a gay couple who married in California. Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who were married in California on July 10, 2008, filed a suit in federal court in December challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Administration responded yesterday.

“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, and end discrimination against LGBT people and our families,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We call on the President to send legislation repealing DOMA to Congress,” he added. 


More after the jump.

Since taking office in January, President Obama has taken bold steps to deliver on principles and promises he articulated during his campaign. In just his first six months in office, President Obama has signed the Lily Ledbetter Act into law, paved the way for life-saving stem cell research, eliminated barriers to women’s health and reproductive care abroad, expanded insurance coverage for millions of children, ended the torture of detainees, and called for the notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay to be closed. However, this community is frustrated by the Administration’s silence, until today, on a critical matter that the President voiced support for during his campaign—repealing DOMA.

“President Obama must see that this extraordinary record of commitment to the public good at last be extended to end discrimination against LGBT people,” said Solmonese. “Mr. President, you have called DOMA ‘abhorrent’ and pledged to be a fierce advocate for our community. As we approach the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, it is time for you to use your leadership to translate these principles into meaningful action.”

HRC also has grave concerns about the arguments that the Administration put forth in this case, arguments that simply do not reflect the experiences that LGBT people face or the contributions that they make. The Administration’s brief claims that DOMA is a valid exercise of Congress’s power, is consistent with Equal Protection or Due Process principles, and does not impinge upon rights that are recognized as fundamental. The brief further claims that DOMA is a “neutral” federal position on same-sex marriages, and permits the states to determine on their own whether to recognize same-sex marriages. The most alarming argument, grounded neither in fact nor in law, reads as follows:

[DOMA amounts to] a cautious policy of federal neutrality towards a new form of marriage. DOMA maintains federal policies that have long sought to promote the traditional and uniformly-recognized form of marriage, recognizes the right of each State to expand the traditional definition if it so chooses, but declines to obligate federal taxpayers in other States to subsidize a form of marriage that their own states do not recognize.

“Same-sex couples and their families are not seeking subsidies,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We pay taxes equally, contribute to our communities equally, support each other equally, pay equally into Social Security, and participate equally in our democracy. Equal protection is not a handout. It is our right as citizens,” he said.



Ever feel like a second-class citizen at tax time? That's because you are

As millions of Americans file their income taxes, a coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups call attention to the tax inequities facing same-sex couples as a result of the state and federal laws that refuse to recognize or extend civil marriage protections to same-sex couples. Marriage Equality USA, Join the Impact and the Human Rights Campaign have collectively organized a series of events at U. S. Post Offices across the nation to highlight the ongoing moral and financial costs of denying marriage equality to same-sex couples—as well as the consequences paid by all Americans as a result of these discriminatory state and federal laws.

“Each tax season, same-sex couples sit at their dining room tables and are forced to live a legal lie by checking ‘single’ despite their decades together and then arbitrarily dividing up their joint household’s income, expenses, and dependents,” said Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA Media Director. “Then we write checks to the IRS for social security taxes, knowing that when we die our families will not even have access to any of the family ‘safety net’ benefits provided in the form of social security survivor benefits, estate tax deferral, and other programs that we help fund through our tax dollars and that only heterosexual couples and their children will enjoy.”

Read more after the jump.


“The tax inequities faced by loving, committed same-sex couples make them less able to care for each other and their families,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Even same-sex couples in states that do legally recognize their unions are penalized by the federal government simply for building a family with the person they love. This is an injustice that can and must end.”

“Whether couples are married, civil unioned or have no state protections under state law, all same-sex couples in the United States are treated as ‘single’ under federal law. The U.S. Census has declared that they will not recognize married same-sex couples as “married” in the 2010 Census. We cannot allow our community to be erased,” said Amy Balliett, co-founder of Join the Impact. “Tax season is yet another time where same-sex couples are reminded that despite abiding by the requirements of American citizenship by paying our taxes, we are still are treated as second class citizens.”

A study produced by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) debunks the myth that granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry would cost the government money. In fact, it would save taxpayer dollars. Same-sex couples are not the only ones paying for marriage discrimination, all taxpayers fund this discrimination which amounts to as much as $1 billion nationwide.



Good News/Bad News: Gay Marriage and the 2010 Census

The good news is that there are states out there that allow gay marriages. The bad news is that, thanks to DOMA, state-sanctioned gay marriages are not recognized by the federal government and won't be counted on the next Census.

Overturning DOMA?

Gay married couples in Massachusetts filed a discrimination lawsuit on March 3 challenging federal law defining marriage as between a man and woman.

Congratulations to these gay pioneers for the work they're doing on behalf of all GLBT Americans.