As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama did not support marriage equality, but he did support the repeal of the so-called "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that bans any federal recognition of gay and lesbian families and allows states to deny marriage rights even to same-sex couples who have been legally wed in their home states. Obama also spoke of supporting some sort of legal provision to allow same-sex families access to civil unions on a national level.
Pro-family parity lawmakers have a bill that would strike down DOMA. They call it the Respect for Marriage Act; if passed into law, the bill would protect marriage--all marriages, that is--by granting federal-level recognition to families, gay or straight, who had been married in any jurisdiction.
Some family equality advocates do not support the bill because it applies only to married couples, and only five states currently allow for marriage equality; the proposed law would do nothing for families who are only recognized as domestic partners or as having a civil union, or--as is the case in the most anti-gay states--whose relationship is denied any legal recognition at all. It would, however, make the federal rights and protections of married couples portable, allowing them to retain federal recognition of their civil marriage even if they relocate to a state that forbids marriage equality....
No Repeal of DOMA Expected Until 2011 (If Then)
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ExileComingHome 214 days ago
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