MA: AG Asks Federal Judge to Find DOMA Unconstitutional

A federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman forces Massachusetts, the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage, to discriminate against same-sex couples, state Attorney General Martha Coakley argues in court papers. Coakley's office filed a lawsuit in July challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In court papers filed in US District Court on Thursday, Coakley asked a judge to deem the law unconstitutional without holding a trial on the lawsuit.

Coakley argues that regulating marital status has traditionally been left to the states. She said the federal law treats married heterosexual couples and married same-sex couples differently; for instance, when determining eligibility for Medicaid benefits and when determining whether the spouse of a veteran can be buried in a Massachusetts veterans cemetery. The law forces Massachusetts "to engage in invidious discrimination against its own citizens in order to receive and retain federal funds in connection with two joint federal-state programs," Coakley said in the court filing.

Full Story from Boston.com
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Why DADT Repeal is More Popular Than Marriage Equality

The repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and marriage equality, on the surface, are similar policy issues. Both deal with equal rights for gays and lesbians. Both sharply divide liberal and conservative activists and politicians; the same lobbyist groups and think tanks tend to study and push the two issues in tandem.

But when it comes to public opinion, you have two very different issues: support for the repeal of DADT has skyrocketed in the last two decades, while support for marriage equality is stagnant.

Three quarters of Americans support the service of openly gay Americans, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993, according to ABC/Washington Post polls. There has been a dramatic shift particularly among conservatives: a May 2009 Gallup poll shows their support for repealing DADT has jumped from 46 to 58 percent in just the past five years. The issue has momentum at the federal level: Obama brought up DADT in his State of the Union address, and the Senate has followed up on the issue with hearings in the Armed Services Committee.

Full Story from Newsweek
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Creating Change Conference Opens in Dallas This Week

From the possible end of the "don't ask, don't tell" law that bans gays from serving openly in the armed forces to the expansion of gay marriage, there will be plenty of chatter among the 2,000 gay and lesbian activists gathering in Dallas this week. The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, kicks off today, with events planned through the weekend.

"There's buzz about everything," said Sue Hyde, the conference director. "People are going to be buzzing about 'don't ask, don't tell.' ... We have some really tough issues on the agenda, and we're making some progress on the local level and the state level and even the federal level on a whole range of issues."

Task Force officials welcomed President Barack Obama's remarks on overturning "don't ask, don't tell" last month in his State of the Union address. But they're disappointed he didn't offer a detailed plan, which allows for "foot-dragging," Hyde said.

Full Story from Dallas News
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MA: Will Brown Election Block DOMA, DADT Repeals?

Pending gay rights bills in Congress are likely to have a difficult – if not impossible – time winning approval after Republican Scott Brown's win over Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts Senate race Tuesday. Coakley was widely considered a shoo-in to replace the late Ted Kennedy when she entered the special election. While Coakley's pro-gay rights positions are well know, Brown attempted to cloak his, refusing to answer such questions from the mainstream media. Brown would only say he holds a similar position on gay marriage as President Obama, who publicly supports civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Brown, however, did respond to questions from the anti-gay group Massachusetts Family Institute. According to a scorecard released by the group, Brown opposes gay marriage, laws that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace and repeal of the military's ban on open gay service, also known as “don't ask, don't tell.” Full Story from On Top Magazine

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Obama Unlikely to Help Gay Rights in 2010

Obama will do nothing for gay rights in 2010, predicts Newsweek, because he would like to avoid the possibility of waging a culture war prior to midterm elections. Coming in at number 9 on its “Politics Predictions 2010” top ten list, the magazine foresees a president that will “do nada” for gay rights in the upcoming year. Newsweek writes: What the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community has learned this year is that the president is ultimately a pragmatist. Although his very presence in the White House is the stuff of culture wars, Obama himself is reluctant to wade into one. Moreover, if socially divisive policies have the potential to compromise his legislative agenda, Obama has proven that he simply won’t pursue them. Expect this tension to become more acute as the 2010 elections loom — and for gay rights to be shunted aside again. “When I read this item in Newsweek, I was not surprised,” says Andrew Davis, managing editor of the Windy City Times and a 42 year-old resident of the Near North Side. “Granted, he’s had to deal with two wars, massive unemployment, a recession and health care reform. However, it seems that when it comes to LGBT rights, the demographic has received mostly lip service (although he did sign the federal hate-crimes bill). I can see him not wanting to “rock the boat.” After all, he expressed his support for same-sex marriage just a few years ago but now he is only behind civil unions—a move, I suspect, that was made to make him more middle-of-the-road (and more marketable).” Full Story from Chicagoist: http://chicagoist.com/2009/12/22/newsweek_obama_will_do_nada_for_gay.php

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Defense of Marriage Act Repeal on Back Burner

The lead sponsor of legislation that would repeal the federal ban on gay marriage says he expects the bill will remain on the back burner for the next year. In a recent interview with gay weekly DC Agenda, New York Representative Jerrold Nadler said the bill is not ready for passage. Nadler introduced the Respect for Marriage Act in September. The bill quickly rounded up 100 co-sponsors in its first 30 days, including two of Congress' three openly gay members – U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, and Jared Polis, D-Colorado. But the effort to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has fallen victim to being a low priority, Nadler said. “The Respect for Marriage Act is a bill that we can't pass right now; we know we can't pass it right now,” he said. “Some of the people we're dealing with are very busy with a number of other things. There's not a sense of urgency, the sense that this bill has to have a Senate sponsor right now because it's going to pass right now, because it's not, so we're talking.” Full Story from On Top Magazine: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4989&MediaType=1&Category=26

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MA: Analysis of the Case Against the Defense of Marriage Act

The focus of the legal dispute over the federal refusal to recognize same-sex unions has shifted from California to Massachusetts, where the courts will tackle the question of whether Congress must treat all state-approved marriages equally. On one side are gay and lesbian couples who can't file joint tax returns, receive their partners' Social Security benefits or enjoy other rights that the government grants to opposite-sex spouses. They are joined by the state of Massachusetts, which says it is being forced by federal law to become an accomplice to discrimination. On the other side is the Obama administration, which says the law it is defending is wrongheaded but constitutional. Full Story from SFGate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/12/01/MNF51A8UO8.DTL

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Update on Massachusetts Case Against DOMA

Gay married couples suing the government over the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex unions, said Tuesday there is "no legitimate or plausible" reason for having a federal definition of marriage that excludes gay couples. The lawsuit was brought by seven gay couples and three widowers, all of whom were married in Massachusetts after it became the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage in 2004. In court documents filed Tuesday, the group claims DOMA violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause since it denies them access to federal benefits such as pensions, health insurance, and the ability to file joint tax based on their sexuality. Full Story from the Advocate: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2009/11/17/Federal_Marriage_Lawsuit_Continues/

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DOMA May Block Public Option in Health Care Reform for Same Sex Partners

As gay rights supporters praise the House’s recently unveiled health care bill for its LGBT and HIV/AIDS provisions, some acknowledge the Defense of Marriage Act could restrict benefits from flowing to LGBT people, depending on how the administration interprets the statute. The $894 billion package, made public last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, compiled the work of three committees that produced health care bills. It includes a government-run insurance option that could extend coverage to about 36 million uninsured Americans. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the only out lesbian in Congress and an advocate for the health care reform bill, said she’s expecting House members to approve the legislation soon following floor debate. But the bill, H.R. 3962, uses the terms “family” and “dependent,” and advocates say the new Health Choices Commissioner — a position established in the legislation to oversee the insurance exchange — could interpret this language to mean someone’s opposite-sex spouse, but not a same-sex spouse. Full Story from the Washington Blade: http://www.washblade.com/2009/11-6/news/national/15485.cfm

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Obama Administration Argues States Can't Force Federal Govt to Offer Same Sex Benefits

States that allow gay marriage cannot force the federal government to provide benefits to those couples, the Obama administration argued yesterday in court papers in a lawsuit by the State of Massachusetts. The Justice Department is at odds with Massachusetts - the first state to allow gay marriage - over a 1996 federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Massachusetts sued in July, saying that law is discriminatory and deprives gay couples in the state of some federal spousal benefits. The Obama administration agrees the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and wants it repealed, but says it has an obligation to defend laws enacted by Congress while they are on the books and can be reasonably defended. Full Story from Boston.com: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/31/us_says_mass_cant_force_spousal_benefits/

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John Kerry Supports New DOMA Lawsuit

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry says he supports a new lawsuit against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Tim Coco and Genesio “Junior” Oliveira, a binational gay couple, announced Monday they would challenge the 13-year-old law that bans the federal government from recognizing the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. Oliveira, 30, returned to his native Brazil in 2007 after an immigration judged denied his request for asylum. He sought asylum in the U.S. in 2002 because he said he was raped as a teenager. In March, Senator Kerry sent a letter asking for intervention in the matter to Attorney General Eric Holder. On Friday, Coco told the AP that the deadline for Holder to act had passed without action from the administration, effectively supporting Oliveira's denial of asylum and keeping the men apart. Full Story from On Top Magazine: http://ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4773&MediaType=1&Category=26

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Senator Arlen Spector Changes His Mind on Gay Marriage

Arlen Specter, the Democrat senator for Pennsylvania, has changed his mind on the issue of gay marriage. In 1996, he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits the federal government from recognising gay marriage. In 2006, he voted for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in his state. But writing in the Huffington Post this week, Specter said it was time to repeal DOMA and allow states to decide for themselves.  He wrote: “Enacted 13 years ago when the idea of same sex marriage was struggling for acceptance, the Act is a relic of a more tradition-bound time and culture. Full Story from : http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/10/28/pennsylvania-senator-changes-mind-on-gay-marriage/

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Bill to Repeal DOMA Has More Than 100 Sponsors

Sponsors of the Respect for Marriage Act said Tuesday the bill has exceeded 100 co-sponsors. Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the bill that would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) at a Washington outdoor press conference in September. DOMA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton 13 years ago. The law defines marriage as a heterosexual union for federal agencies and allows states to ignore gay marriages performed in other states. Under DOMA legally married gay and lesbian couples cannot access federal benefits, including Social Security and pensions. Full Story from On Top Magazine: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4703&MediaType=1&Category=26

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Gay Rights Activists Disappointed that Obama Offered No Timetable for DADT, DOMA Repeal

The morning after President Obama’s “big gay speech” — as gay bloggers dubbed his Saturday night address to the Human Rights Campaign — gay rights advocates are preparing to march from the White House to the Capitol building this afternoon. The demonstration, set to begin at noon, is intended to pressure Mr. Obama to make good on his campaign promises to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” There was plenty of speculation from gays and politicos alike that he might start one, or both, of these efforts from the podium Saturday night–neither happened. “President Obama gets an “F” for his speech tonight on gay rights,” wrote Kevin Naff, the editor of The Washington Blade, a gay issues newspaper in Washington D.C., as he bemoaned the absence of a timetable for Mr. Obama’s pledges. “This wasn’t so much a policy speech as a recitation of old campaign promises reheated for a breathless audience on its feet.” Full Story from the NY Times: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/sunday-word-big-gay-march/

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Obama Calls on Congress to Repeal Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell

President Barack Obama restated his campaign pledge to allow homosexual men and women to serve openly in the military, but many in his audience of gay activists were left wondering when he would make good on the promise. "I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,'" Obama said Saturday night to a standing ovation from the crowd of about 3,000 at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group. He offered no timetable or specifics and he acknowledged some may be growing impatient. "I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach." Full Story from AP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZUjpkw6hIX3KDjuV8xK0idc_H0wD9B8UFGG2

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