Sunday, June 14, 2009

Total Betrayal

The Obama administration has officially thrown queer people under the bus.

Background: In the few states that do allow gay marriage, those marriages only entail rights at the state level (no federal recognition for tax purposes, for example) and the rights they do have end at the state border (once a couple enters another state, they are legal strangers). This stunning example of second-class citizenship is made possible by DOMA--the Defense of Marriage Act--that was enacted in 1996 under the Clinton Administration. DOMA ensures that:
  1. No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
  2. The federal government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.
So, in reality, when we talk about states that have achieved "marriage equality," it's really not equal at all. Gay people don't get federal recognition and lose whatever protections they do have as soon as they leave the state.

However, Americans have this pesky Amendment in their Constitution that guarantees equal protection for all citizens under the law. So someone had the bright idea of taking DOMA to court since it's a pretty obvious case of discrimination and denial of civil rights at the federal level.

Since this lawsuit is challenging a federal law, it's up to the President's Department of Justice to try to defend it. One would think that the DoJ for a President who has described himself as a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights and has actually argued that DOMA needs to be repealed would take a fairly soft stance in defending this blatantly anti-gay law.

One would be gravely, slap-in-the-face-ingly wrong.

Not only did Obama's DoJ defend DOMA, they went so far as to claim that the law is totally constitutional, that it's ok cuz we also don't let adults marry kids, that gay people aren't a suspect class that can be discriminated against, and that it's not really discrimination since gay people are free to marry someone of the opposite gender.

WHHAAAAAAAAA?

Calling this a slap in the face is an understatement. This is the legal equivalent of a solid kick between the legs. Obama's administration has officially argued that gay people do not deserve to marry. They did this by completely dehumanizing gay people. It's disgusting.

Obama can go suck a lemon. I'm done supporting this two-faced liar.

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