Five members of the gay rights group
GetEQUAL were arrested Wednesday outside House Speaker John Boehner's
West Chester, Ohio office.
After being denied entry to Boehner's
office to deliver a petition urging him not to defend the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), the activists refused to leave and staged a
sit-in outside the speaker's office in the rain.
On Wednesday, a five-member panel
appointed by Boehner voted 3-2 along party lines to instruct the
House's nonpartisan Office of the General Counsel to defend the 1996
law, now that President Barack Obama won't.
Obama
decided that his administration would no longer defend the law
that bans federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of
gay and lesbian couples and allows states to ignore such marriages
from out of state. The president said he believes parts of the law
are unconstitutional.
According
to the Cleveland-based gay bi-weekly Gay
People's Chronicle, police arrested Sean Watkins, Morgan
Bonney, Jesse Bonney, Liz Mills and Karay Martin on charges of
trespassing. They were released on their own recognizance and are
set to appear in court on March 29.