California Senator Dianne Feinstein has
said she expects a long fight to end the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA).
DOMA, which was approved in 1996, bars
federal agencies and the military from recognizing the legal
marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
On
Thursday, a bill that would repeal DOMA cleared the Senate
Judiciary Committee along a 10-8 party line vote. Republicans on the
panel said they supported DOMA because federal recognition of the
marriages of gay couples would add to the national debt.
After the vote, Feinstein, the chief
sponsor of the bill in the Senate, acknowledged she does not have the
votes to approve the bill in the Senate, but added that she's
committed to the fight.
“You've got to look at it, I think, in a
historic perspective. 15 years ago, DOMA swept through and only 14
of us voted against it. Today, we have 30 co-sponsors alone of a
bill to repeal DOMA. That in itself is a giant step forward.”
(The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
“Virtually any advance in civil
rights or any kind of rights has been carried by the Democratic
Party. It's just a fact,” she
added. “So, we'll just march on. We'll continue this. And if
I have to reintroduce it next session, I'll introduce it. Session
after that, I'll reintroduce it.”