Gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans
support House Speaker John Boehner's decision to defend the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court.
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 announced
the Department of Justice would 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.
While
six House Democrats – including its four openly gay members – on
Friday released a statement in support of the president's decision,
R. Clarke Cooper, the executive director of Log Cabin Republicans,
appeared on MSNBC's Hardball to support Boehner.
“I want to see DOMA repealed. I
would love to see it repealed legislatively,” Cooper told Chris
Matthews, then added, “The speaker is doing the right thing for
right now. This was not political courage by president Obama, this
was political calculus. He threw this in the mix to try to stir the
pot.”
When Matthews protested Cooper's swipe
at the president, Cooper responded: “This is gamesmanship on the
president's part.”
Cooper also refused to answer when
Matthews asked, “Is the president right or wrong to not fight for
the constitutionality of DOMA?” (The video is embedded in the
right panel of this page.)