Obama + DOMA = Oh no. Too many vowels, too little change.
Jun 16th, 2009 | By benwyskida | Category: Politics
Well fuck. We’ve written a little bit here about the Obama Administration’s tepid approach to gay rights. But the administration has now turned from “slow to make change” to outright antagonism, going to court last week to actively defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and equating gay marriage with incest and pedophilia. Our hero PinkoPaul has been covering this in great detail. (Read his whole piece, but these are some excerpts.) He explains:
When Barack Obama ran for President, he pledged to fully repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a mean-spirited piece of legislation that Bill Clinton signed in 1996. Obama says it’s still his intent to do so, but has yet to follow up with any action. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department filed a brief late last week defending a constitutional challenge to DOMA. The brief did not merely argue against the lawsuit on technical grounds such as the plaintiffs’ lack of standing, but advanced legal arguments that – if pursued by the courts – could greatly damage gay and lesbian rights.
At issue is a lawsuit filed by a California couple in protest of Prop 8. Because (1) Obama has not yet moved to repeal DOMA, and because (2) DOMA is federal law, and because (3) the Justice Department has to defend federal laws, they have to (4) file to stop the California couple’s lawsuit. Fine. It’s not really fine at all, but at least it falls under the Administration’s “we need more time on this” rationale. But as Paul goes on to explain, it’s not just that they’re making procedural arguments based on existing law. They’re making broader arguments defending DOMA on it’s merits, arguments that could be used against an Obama Administration years down the road if it gets a backbone on gay rights. What kind of arguments?
The Administration argued that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution does not bar states from denying out-of-state gay marriages, and they cited prior cases of out-of-state marriages that were between (a) an uncle and niece, (b) a 16-year-old and adult and (c) first cousins. Comparing same-sex marriage with incest and pedophilia is what one would expect from a Republican Administration, and for a court to agree with such reasoning is unhelpful.
Whoa. Now here at Pinko we’re into some pretty trashy stuff, but we’re not about to defend (a) or (c) above. We’re also legally not allowed to discuss our opinions on (b), or to speculate how that should be legal if we were the 16-year old and the adult was Twilight Star Robert Patinson. We’re not going there. But as Paul writes, these arguments are unhelpful to say the least. Not only are they offensive and ignorant, they set legal precedent and stand as the Obama Administration’s first real input into the gay marriage issue. The Obama Administration’s handling of the DOMA flap is so offensive that even the meek and timid Human Rights Campaign is sounding heroic this week. Their President, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama on Monday scolding the administration:
As an American, a civil rights advocate, and a human being, I hold this administration to a higher standard than this brief … I have seen your administration aspire and achieve. Protecting women from employment discrimination. Insuring millions of children. Enabling stem cell research to go forward. These are powerful achievements. And they serve as evidence to me that this brief should not be good enough for you. The question is, Mr. President — do you believe that it’s good enough for us?
Now a number of prominent gay rights activists are pulling out of an upcoming Democratic fundraiser. Gays are often treated like a big, well-moisturized ATM by the Democratic National Committee, so this be a tipping point. The reality here is that pushing gay rights legislation through Congress isn’t the smartest politics for President Obama. He fears – rightly – that it could distract from other priorities. But that’s also how JFK and LBJ felt about civil rights. Sometimes you have to do the right thing because we elected you to do the right thing. President Obama has argued that he has too much on his plate, but he’s also mocked Republicans for accusing him of doing “too much at once.” So what probably has to happen is that bloggers, activists and moneyed gay funders will have to shame the administration into action, making this a political issue he has to deal with when we would all rather be focusing on health care. It’s sad to have to push the first African-American President on civil rights, but that’s where we’re at.
As for an action, Americablog is urging a quick phone call to a few key top Congressional Democrats. (Top as in leading, not … anyway) There are a couple of links in that post to other proposed actions, most centered around this big DNC fundraiser. More on this in the days to come, and as always your thoughts are welcome in the comments.
About The Author
Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.
Thanks again for the kind words, Ben. During the campaign, I tried stressing to people how important it was to defeat Prop 8 — because our next step after that was to repeal DOMA. When Prop 8 passed, I feared Obama would not act quickly to repeal DOMA — because we had just proven how politically incompetent we were. If even California did not stand up for marriage equality, why would a new President spend his political capital?
The Obama Administration has defended the Justice Department brief, because they say that their job is to defend existing law — even though Obama himself supports the repeal of DOMA. Incredibly, he’s passing the buck to Congress for not sending him the bill to his desk yet. What’s bitterly ironic here, is that if Obama had already fulfilled his promise the Justice Department would not “feel compelled” to defend DOMA.
Of course, I’m mad at Obama … but I’m also incredibly pissed at the “No on 8″ campaign — for having last year re-created the Michael Dukakis campaign (by blowing a seventeen-point lead.) This whole incident teaches us two things: (a) Obama is not perfect, and we need to keep pushing him to keep his promises, and (b) if we don’t prove ourselves by organizing that we have political power, politicians backstab us.
wow, what a shame indeed. thanks for reporting on this… I will make some calls right away!
Well fuck. I am going to do the stupidest thing ever which is to say, HEY, go to fucking FACEBOOK because that’s where there is some real debate going on right now about this post:
http://www.facebook.com/wyskida
The summation of what i was saying on facebook in response to some queries about “what’s wrong with incest” etc. is that I can’t fathom how Obama could fuck up this bad. Like, someone was obviously asleep at the wheel at the justice department.
Anyway yes this is so depressing and stupid. We all know that two years from now or three years from now if Obama is still popular he’ll “come around” on this and that it’s all politics, but how fucked up is that about making people wait years for their rights?
I was so cautiously optimistic, but in little (some almost imperceptible) ways, Obama reminds me more and more of the Smiler from Transmetropolitan, an inspiring politician who gets elected president and turns out to be pure evil. He’s got years yet to turn that impression around I suppose.