By Matt Baume (San Francisco, California) JAN 17 | Is Obama secretly trying to lose the Defense of Marriage case? In New Hampshire, Republicans avoid a showdown over gay marriage, but in Iowa they won't even allow a gay Presidential candidate into a debate. And here in California, an embarrassing end for Imperial County.
Obama's relationship with the LGBT community? It's complicated. Things got rocky this week when the Justice Department continued protecting the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal ban that prevents gay couples from getting married. But what's interesting is the reason they gave for doing so. According to Justice, DOMA's only necessary because laws differ from state to state, and the ban ensures some federal uniformity.
That's bad news for the National Organization for Marriage. They've made millions of dollars by arguing that gay couples are inherently inferior to straight couples, and they wanted Justice to make the same arguments, as it did under the Bush administration.
According to NOM, Obama is secretly trying to lose the case. He's already said that he wants it repealed, and the theory goes that by throwing the case, he may be able to get rid of it without taking any big political risks.
After all, they already think he's a Muslim Kenyan terrorist anti-christ socialist from space. It won't help if people are like, "and now he's gay." And that's this week's comment bait: do you think Obama's trying to lose the DOMA case? And is it a good idea? And is he gay? Share your thoughts in the comments.
It's been a bad week for NOM. Up in New Hampshire, House Republican Leader DJ Bettencourt announced that the GOP will not challenge marriage equality this year. According to Bettencourt, the party has more important issues to take care of.
It's worth pointing out that Bettencourt is young. He's just twenty seven, even though he does dress like a grandfather.
We know that young people favor marriage equality, and it's only a matter of time before they start occupying leadership roles, even in the Republican party.
But that day's still not here in Iowa, where Presidential candidate Fred Karger has been locked out of a debate sponsored by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. Because nothing says faith and freedom like telling someone, quote, "I will work overtime to help ensure that your policial aspirations are aborted."
They seem nice.
And finally, there's been a telling silence out of Imperial County, which had a secret meeting this week to decide whether there was any point in trying to defend Prop 8 after the 9th Circuit decisively shot them down. And what have they decided? They're not going to talk about it. The case is on hold, says the county lawyer, before changing the subject.
This week's Action Item takes us to Rhode Island, where the National Organization for Marriage launched a TV blitz attacking gay couples. You can watch our rebuttal by clicking here, and you can do your part to help.
Marriage Equality Rhode Island -- MERI -- needs phone volunteers. Visit CallForMERI dot org to sign up for phonebanks. You can participate from anywhere in the world. This is a perfect volunteer opportunity for friendly outgoing folks who love chatting with new people. So if that's you, sign up and get to work. And if you're shy, just follow MERI on Tumblr. They're at CallForMERI dot tumblr dot com.
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