There has been quite a bit of discussion over the past few months over the merits of defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) since Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement on February 23rd stating that the Justice Department will no longer defend the law. The law passed in 1996 was enacted to exempt states from recognizing gay marriages granted from other states under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the US Constitution and essentially framed that the federal government viewed "marriage" as a legal union between one man and one woman.
In a one page document the US government was able to discriminate against its' citizens and claim that a state that legalized same-sex marriage was incorrect for doing so and that their actions would not be recognized by the rest of the nation. We cannot make the claim that we are the "land of the free and the home of the brave" while we continue to not recognize the rights of our fellow citizens who are just trying to live as fulfilling a life as the rest of us. It is not brave to deny others their freedom.
House Republicans instead of focusing on jobs as they had campaigned and rode into office on (still no legislation out of the House that has anything to do with jobs) have recently shifted their focus to defending DOMA separate of the Department of Justice. They are willing to defend this law to the tune of $520 per hour for an estimated total cost of $500,000. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had to write a letter to Speaker Boehner to request an estimate of cost for this defense, as these estimates were not originally shared with the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee. Even during a debate on the reduction of government spending House Republicans are willing to spend taxpayer funds unnecessarily to defend an unconstitutional law, a fight that would ultimately be lost.
In a CNN Opinion Research poll released on April 19th 51% of Americans feel that gay marriage should be recognized as valid. If you look at the break-down support among Dems is at 64% versus a 71% opposition by Republican respondents. As of yesterday media outlets reported that the private firm hired by House Republicans has decided to defend DOMA has decided to withdraw from the case. The dropping of the case by the defense team should be a signal to Speaker Boehner that he is fighting an uphill battle in his attempt to continue the government position of discrimination against homosexual citizens, especially considering that Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) was just repealed in December.
Homosexuals don't choose to be homosexual, the idea that sexual preference is a choice is ridiculous. If this was the case then 100% of individuals would have to choose their sexual orientation, I don't recall when I had to make the "choice" to be straight and that's because I didn't have to it was just born into me, the same is true for homosexuals and no "choice" has to be made. The sooner leaders in Washington and some of our fellow citizens realize this fact the sooner we can truly have equality in this country when it comes to sexual orientation. Laws like DOMA and DADT do nothing but further divide our nation and promote notions of inequality that just aren't true. So please Speaker Boehner let the courts handle DOMA and focus on what you said you would, jobs.
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