Defense of Marriage Act Repeal Bill to Circulate U.S. House in Weeks
-Posted by Unite the Fight!
Politico reports that U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who announced in July he would be working on a partial repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), will be ready to circulate his bill to his colleagues to garner support in a matter of weeks, putting the Obama Administration on the spot. Politico believes it will garner dozens of co-sponsors.
At the time he announced his intention to work on repealing the 1996 DOMA, Nadler told the Bay Area Reporter that the repeal would only extend to marriage and not civil unions and domestic partnerships, meaning that only those legally married will receive federal benefits.
Also, the bill looks to only repeal Section 2 of DOMA, which restricts the government from recognizing any marriages other than heterosexual. Section 3 will most likely remain, which allows states to decide whether or not to legalize marriage equality within its borders.
Nadler confirmed there would be a “certainty provision.” This would ensure that any same-sex couple who moved from a state that recognizes their marriage to one that does not that the federal government would still extend federal benefits to that marriage.
With the Obama Administration constantly using double-speak when approaching DOMA, it will be interesting to see if the president will live up to his promises to support a congressional repeal of DOMA.
This time, Obama will not be able to eloquently talk his way out of this situation – he’ll either support it or he won’t. With so much riding on his presidency right now – health care reform, two wars to end, the economy – he needs as much political equity that he can get his hands on. I want to believe that he’s a man of his word. We’ll find out.
