DOMA Repeal Legislation Introduced

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Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) had a press conference today to announce the introduction of the "Respect for Marriage Act." The legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. Interestingly enough, Clinton sent a statement to be read at the presser.

"Today, we celebrate the first step toward overturning the Defense of Marriage Act and sending that ugly law into the history books where it belongs," said Nadler, adding that the new RMA bill has 91 original cosponsors.

Nadler later read a statement from former President Bill Clinton thanking Reps. Nadler, Baldwin, Polis, John Conyers of Michigan, John Lewis of Georgia, Nydia Velazquez of New York and Barbara Lee of California, for introducing the legislation. Clinton signed DOMA into law in 1996.

"Throughout my life I have opposed discrimination of any kind," Clinton said in the statement. "When the Defense of Marriage Act was passed, gay couples could not marry anywhere in the United States or the world for that matter. Thirteen years later, the fabric of our country has changed, and so should this policy."  91 original co-sponsors is a big deal; I never would have thought they'd get that many.

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Rep Barney Frank is not a co-sponsor.

The LGBT orgs pumped out statements right after the press conference; they're after the jump.

Continue reading "DOMA repeal legislation introduced"...

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On Loyalty Oaths or Ebony and Ivory Live Together In Perfect Harmony

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The following has been clipped from The Bilerico Project Report dated 14 September 2009.

_________________

I'm sure you've all heard by now that Rep. Jerry Nadler plans on introducing a bill to repeal DOMA in the House, and that Barney Frank isn't co-sponsoring because he's worried that the "certainty principle" will be a poison pill that will kill the bill and that it will be a distraction from other legislation like ENDA.

Personally, it seems like a rather academic debate right now considering that the bill won't be voted on until at least after the 2010 midterms and that it won't pass the Senate in Obama's first term, if it does pass within the next decade. Sorry, I just don't feel the optimism here.

But there are also plenty of reasons to think that Frank either should or should not cosponsor the bill. There is a strategic debate there, and we're having it because the person at the center of that strategic debate is Barney Frank, one of the gay movement's smartest, most powerful, and staunchest actors. If it were anyone else, he'd probably be shouted down as an "uncle Tom" or a "traitor." If anyone would have paid attention in the first place.

More extreme (in rhetoric and emotion, not politics) members of the LGBT population have already gotten fed up with Frank. Aravosis is now referring to the Congressman as "formerly gay," because apparently having a different opinion on a strategic discussion means that you're no longer allowed to suck dick. Joe Sudby, who generally shows more restraint, said:

But, sometimes, we really need our allies to be our allies, not just the smartest people around.

His comment is fairly representative of what a lot of people are actually saying when they call someone an "uncle Tom" for not agreeing with them that marriage is the most important issue ever, for example. They don't want people to think on their own or help out as they can - they want loyalty.

But loyalty isn't defined as loyalty to the community or loyalty to a certain goal. It's defined as "You're a good, loyal, real gay person if you agree with me." For some reason, it's not a definition people on the left use, but the center-left/big-city liberal section of the community that's always just assumed it had the God-given right to define the strategies, goals, and composition of the LGBT movement.

Continue reading "On loyalty oaths"...

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Congress returns - much at stake for gays

OF INTEREST . . .

The following has been clipped from the Daily Headlines of

365gay.com published 08 September 2009.

OF NOTE . . . . . . .

Hate crimes, AIDS, DOMA, Don't Ask may all be taken up.
Read More...

OF COURSE . . . .

http://mail.logoonline.com/a/hBKprfhBPJVZ9B7S$md-rGOIzrF/gay8-2

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