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Obama admin. to Supremes: Strike anti-gay law
SeattlePI ^ | February 24, 2013 | Joel Connelly

Posted on 02/24/2013 5:09:46 PM PST by Colonel Kangaroo

The Obama administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike part of a controversial 1996 law that bars recognition of same-sex marriage, even in the nine states where it is now legal, for such federal benefits as income and estate taxes and federal employee benefits.

“The law denies to tens of thousands of same sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important benefits that are available to legally married opposite sex couples,” the Justice Department argued in a brief urging the high court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.

The justices hear oral arguments next month in two landmark marriage equality cases. One is a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. The other is a challenge to California’s Prop. 8, which rolled back same-sex marriage in America’s largest state. Lower federal courts have ruled against both DOMA and Prop. 8.

Washington, Maine and Maryland voted last November to legalize same-sex marriage, and has seen hundreds of marriages beginning in December.

“Each time the Obama administration acts to support LGBT (gay and lesbian) Americans, it feels even more significant when considered in the context of Presidential history: It was not all that long ago that President Reagan refused to help when many were dying of AIDS,” said Anne Levinson, a former judge and Seattle deputy mayor, and strategist in the 2012 campaign for marriage equality.

“President Bush embraced a platform and led an administration that vilified the LGBT community,” Levinson added.

In its legal brief, the Obama administration argues:

“Gay and lesbian people are a minority group with limited political power. Although some of the harshest and most overt forms of discrimination against gay and lesbian people have receded, that progress has hardly been uniform (either temporally or geographically) and has in significant respects been the result of judicial enforcement of the Constitution, not political action.”

The Defense of Marriage Act “targets the many gay and lesbian people legally married under state law for a harsh form of discrimination that bears no relation to their ability to contribute to society,” the brief adds.

The Obama administration announced last year that it would no longer defend DOMA in court. The defense of the 1996 anti-gay law has been taken up, and paid for out of public funds, by the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops has also filed briefs in defense of DOMA, arguing that supporters of traditional marriage would be subject to attack if the law is overturned.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gaymarriage; homosexualagenda; homosexualmarriage; obama; samesexmarriage
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

why, you aren’t enforcing it anyway, obamass.


21 posted on 02/24/2013 5:54:56 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
American Caesarism hell... it's a damn Caliphate!!!
22 posted on 02/24/2013 5:56:57 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Still waiting for the MSM reporters to ask His Arrogance, “What’s in it for him?”.


23 posted on 02/24/2013 6:04:30 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (The Progressive mind...an arid ethical and moral wasteland!)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

“Stwike him, Centuwion, vewy woughly!” Bawack Obama


24 posted on 02/24/2013 6:15:44 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Evidently the ‘constitutional lecturer’ doesn’t quite understand that separation-of-powers concept.

Either that or he’s just an out-and-out fascist.


25 posted on 02/24/2013 6:58:28 PM PST by Ghost of Philip Marlowe (Prepare for survival.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Gotta love the headline abuse:

“Obama admin. to Supremes: Strike anti-gay law”

Except the DOMA is not anti-gay.

Headline should be: “Obama admin. to Supremes: Strike pro-marrige law”


26 posted on 02/24/2013 7:11:35 PM PST by upchuck (nobama fact #69: For each job created by the nobama administration, 75 people went on food stamps.)
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To: Venturer

Just what I was thinking, now that Reggie Love is back in the picture. It’s sad to say though that most people don’t know the dark side of Obama and his extramarital affairs.
Need to spread the word on Obama and his past-time pleasures. Obama is a real sicko.


27 posted on 02/24/2013 8:36:44 PM PST by hapnHal (hapnHal)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

“The other is a challenge to California’s Prop. 8, which rolled back same-sex marriage in America’s largest state.”

Alaska? What does prop 8 have to do with Alaska?


28 posted on 02/25/2013 3:41:02 AM PST by al_c (http://www.blowoutcongress.com)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Is Barack Obama Gay?
http://hillbuzz.org/is-barack-obama-gay


29 posted on 02/27/2013 7:41:27 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (I'll raise $2million for Sarah Palin's presidential run. What'll you do?)
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