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defense of marriage act
Poll: Slim Majority Supports Gay Marriage
By Politics Daily Staff - Politics DailyFor the first time, more Americans support legalization of same-sex marriage than oppose it, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey, showing 53 percent backing for gay marriage, comes amid signs of increased acceptance of homosexuals in the U.S. Just five years go in polling by the same news group, only 36 percent favored gay marriage, the Post said. Taken last weekend, the new survey asked a random sample of 1,005 adults, "Do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married?" Support for that proposition grew among college-educated whites, ...
House Republicans Plan to Stick Up for Defense of Marriage Law
By Tom Diemer - Politics DailyThe Defense of Marriage Act -- the federal law defining marriage as being between a man and a woman -- has plenty of defenders, but they are up on Capitol Hill, not in the White House. Less than a week after the Obama administration said it would no longer argue in court for a key section of the 1996 law, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Republicans would likely enter the legal fray. "I do believe that this case is distinguishable on its merits, and to have . . . the president take the position that he's not defending the law of the land is something very troubling, I think, to most ...
Gay Marriage Decision May Not Hurt Obama or Help the Religious Right
By David Gibson - Politics DailyWhen the Obama administration announced that it would adopt a matador defense on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the reaction from conservative Christian activists alternated between rage and celebration that the president had basically allowed the political right a slam dunk for the 2012 campaign. The Justice Department declared that it would no longer argue in court on behalf of a key restriction against gay marriage contained in the law, which effectively gives gay marriage a pass from the executive branch -- and gives the religious right a debating point. Related ...
Newt Gingrich Says Obama's DOMA Decision Sparked 'Constitutional Crisis'
By Christopher Weber - Politics DailyPresident Obama's decision this week to ease enforcement of the federal Defense of Marriage Act was a violation of his oath of office and has sparked a constitutional crisis, Newt Gingrich said Friday. In an interview with Newsmax.TV, the former House speaker accused Obama of acting like a "one-person Supreme Court" and called on Republicans to confront the president over his "arbitrary" suspension of the law. The Obama administration questions Section 3 of DOMA, which defines marriage for federal purposes as only between one man and one woman. According to Attorney General Eric Holder, ...
Hawaii Seventh State to Legalize Same-Sex Civil Unions
By Christopher Weber - Politics DailyTo cheers from gay rights advocates, Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed into law a bill authorizing same-sex civil unions in Hawaii, making it the seventh state to do so. "E Komo Mai: It means all are welcome," Abercrombie said before the signing ceremony, in remarks reported by Honolulu's Star Advertiser. "This signing today of this measure says to all of the world that they are welcome. That everyone is a brother or sister here in paradise." The new law, which takes effect next year, gives civil unions the same legal status as marriage, with equal rights and benefits. SB 232 passed the ...
Piece by Piece, Obama Undoing President Bill Clinton's Actions
By Andrea Stone - AOL NewsANALYSIS WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's stunning announcement that it now considers the Defense of Marriage Act indefensible because it discriminates against gay couples was more than a sign of the times. It was yet one more reason Barack Obama is the un-Bill Clinton. From gay rights to Wall Street reform, Obama has taken actions his fellow Democrat wished he could have during his presidency or which, a decade after leaving office, he regrets he didn't: Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images Former President Bill Clinton, right, said he "didn't like" signing the Defense of ...
Opinion Roundup: 4 Questions About Obama's Gay Marriage Decision
By not in system - AOL NewsThe Obama administration is calculating that it will receive little political backlash for its decision to tell the Justice Department to stop prosecuting cases related to the Defense of Marriage Act. Originally, the largely symbolic act was intended to head off the legalization of gay marriage by stating that the definition of marriage is between a man and a woman. From the Atlantic Wire Here's an overview of political implications of the decision (for legal implications of the DOMA reversal visit opinions by Slate's Dahlia Lithwick and The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen): Why ...
Obama Won't Defend DOMA: Instant Reactions
By Mary Phillips-Sandy - AOL NewsPresident Barack Obama has decided that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and has ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to stop defending it in federal court. Until now, the Department of Justice has defended Section 3 of DOMA in court challenges. This section states that "the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife." Two DOMA challenges are currently pending in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a letter to Congress ...
Obama Ends Court Defense of Anti-Gay Marriage Law
By Andrew Cohen - Politics DailyA key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutionally biased and will no longer be defended in court by Justice Department attorneys, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday. But he assured members of Congress that the Clinton-era federal statute, which defines marriage as between only a "man and a woman" as "husband and wife," will continue to be enforced by the executive branch until it is either repealed by legislators or definitely voided by the courts. Section 3 of the statute, which limits the definition of marriage to opposite-sex partners, precludes ...
Obama Drops Support for Law That Bans Gay Marriage
By not in system - AOL NewsWASHINGTON - In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said Wednesday that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage. Attorney General Eric Holder said President Barack Obama has concluded that the administration cannot defend the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. He noted that the congressional debate during passage of the Defense of Marriage Act "contains numerous expressions reflecting moral disapproval of gays and lesbians and their intimate and family relationships - precisely the ...
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