John Koster, a Republican House
candidate from Washington state, has acknowledged mistakenly saying
that there was no federal law restricting the ability of gay couples
to marry.
Koster is among the seven candidates
campaigning to win a special election to fill the remainder of
Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee's unexpired term. Inslee resigned
in March to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.
During a roundtable debate on KING 5's
Up
Front, Koster said: “There is no Federal Defense of
Marriage Act that I know of … Gays and lesbians have a right to
live as they choose. They don't have a right to redefine marriage
for all of us.”
Congress approved and then-President
Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in
1996. The law bars federal agencies from recognizing the legal
marriages of gay couples.
There are at least 12 lawsuits
challenging the constitutionality of the law. The Republican-led
House took up defending the law after Obama administration officials
announced they would no longer defend the law in court. Last week,
House
lawyers said they would appeal one of the cases to the Supreme Court
this month.
“Of course I know there's DOMA,”
Koster told The
Seattle Times. Expanding on his answer, Koster told the
paper that he meant to say that without the Justice Department
defending the law, it was an issue left to the states.