The House's four openly gay
representatives – Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Jared Polis of
Colorado, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and David Cicilline of Rhode
Island – have joined with Jerrold Nadler of New York and John
Conyers of Michigan to urge House Speaker John Boehner not to defend
the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Boehner
on Friday announced the creation of a five-member panel to consider
whether to instruct the House's nonpartisan Office of the General
Counsel to defend the law after President Barack Obama last week
instructed the Department of Justice to no longer defend the law
because he believed parts of it are unconstitutional. DOMA bans
federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and
lesbian couples and allows states to ignore such marriages from out
of state.
Nadler, who recently announced he would
reintroduce his 2009 bill to repeal the law, and the five other
lawmakers urged Boehner not to defend DOMA in a joint statement
released Friday.
“House Leadership has a unique
opportunity to move forward rather than clinging to the past, and we
urge them to do so. A decision not to defend DOMA would honor and
respect all American families and would harm no one. Despite some
claims to the contrary, that decision would also support states'
rights by respecting and treating equally the lawful marriages of
each and every state.”
The lawmakers added that they supported
the president in his decision to no longer defend the Clinton-era
law.
“Based on the lack of any reasonable
arguments that justify the harm that DOMA imposes on loving gay and
lesbian couples, DOJ correctly concluded that Section 3 of the law
violates the Constitution.”
“It has been 15 years since the
Congress enacted DOMA, and the myths and stereotypes used to support
its enactment have been shattered. Married gay and lesbian couples
pay taxes, serve their communities, struggle to balance work and
family, raise children and care for aging parents like other
Americans. Their contributions and needs are no different than
anyone else's. The majority of Americans understand this and now
support extending the time-honored tradition of marriage to loving
and committed gay and lesbian couples.”