Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage

WASHINGTON — Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election.

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., who opposed same-sex marriage
 during his 2012 presidential bid, signed the brief.

Meg Whitman supported Proposition 8
when she ran for California governor.

The document will be submitted this week to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike downProposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. The court will hear back-to-back arguments next month in that case and another pivotal gay rights case that challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

The Proposition 8 case already has a powerful conservative supporter: Theodore B. Olson, the former solicitor general under Mr. Bush and one of the suit’s two lead lawyers. The amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief is being filed with Mr. Olson’s blessing. It argues, as he does, that same-sex marriage promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in two-parent homes, and that it advances conservative values of “limited government and maximizing individual freedom.”

Legal analysts said the brief had the potential to sway conservative justices as much for the prominent names attached to it as for its legal arguments. The list of signers includes a string of Republican officials and influential thinkers — 75 as of Monday evening — who are not ordinarily associated with gay rights advocacy, including some who are speaking out for the first time and others who have changed their previous positions.

Among them are Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for California governor; Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York; Stephen J. Hadley, a Bush national security adviser; Carlos Gutierrez, a commerce secretary to Mr. Bush; James B. Comey, a top Bush Justice Department official; David A. Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s first budget director; and Deborah Pryce, a former member of the House Republican leadership from Ohio who is retired from Congress.

Experts say that amicus briefs generally do not change Supreme Court justices’ minds. But on Monday some said that the Republican brief, written by Seth P. Waxman, a former solicitor general in the administration of President Bill Clinton, and Reginald Brown, who served in the Bush White House Counsel’s Office, might be an exception..

-New York Times, February 25th 2013

Related articles

• 75+ Prominent Republicans Sign Brief Urging Supreme Court to Strike Down Proposition 8 (towleroad.com)
• HP CEO Meg Whitman Changes Opposition Stance to Same-Sex Marriage (allthingsd.com)
• Obama May Bolster Gay-Marriage Bid in California Case - Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• All-out assault on Proposition 8 (scotusblog.com)
• DOMA: U.S. takes tough line on marriage denial (scotusblog.com)
• Supreme Court is urged to allow gay marriage nationwide (latimes.com)

The Defense of Marriage Act is already losing in the court of public opinion as a case challenging its constitutionality is about to be heard by the US Supreme Court.

A new poll found that 59 percent of Americans are against DOMA after being informed that the law prohibits the federal government from offering benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married.

The percentage of those against DOMA is actually higher than the 52 percent of people in the poll who said they are in favor of gay marriage in general. Also, 62 percent of respondents - including some of those who are against gay marriage - agree that 'it is discrimination for the federal government to deny marriage protections and benefits to legally married same-sex couples.'

'The findings of this poll should provide significant headwinds to LGBT advocates and allies and demonstrate to the Court that the thinking behind DOMA is outdated and indefensible,' said Winnie Stachelberg of the Center for American Progress and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders which commissioned the poll.

The results of the poll are based on a live interviewer telephone survey conducted January 23 – 27 among 802 registered voters in the US.

Federal appeals courts in New York and Boston ruled that DOMA is unconstitutional - rulings appealed to the Supreme Court by the Republicans.

The justices have agreed to hear the New York case which was filed by Edith Windsor who sued because she was required to pay a $350,000 federal estate tax bill. The government does not recognize her marriage to her late wife Thea Spyer.

Related articles

• POLLS: DOMA Is Discrimination, Equality Is Inevitable (thinkprogress.org)
• Majority Of Americans Oppose Gay Marriage Ban DOMA (ontopmag.com)
• Obama Considers Weighing In On Prop. 8 Supreme Court Case (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com)

Gay troops to file suit challenging Defense of Marriage Act

"Gay and lesbian troops and veterans plan to file suit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the federal ban on gay marriage and federal policy that defines a spouse as a person of the opposite sex.

Casey and Shannon McClaughlin, and family 

The suit comes five weeks after the Pentagon ended its ban on gays in the military.

Lawyers plan to file suit in federal district court in Boston, the same court that ruled last year that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because the law interferes with a state’s right to define marriage. The decision in on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit."

 - The Washington Post 

DOD Allows Same-Sex Couple To Attend Family Event

"“The Department of Defense has clarified regulations that will allow Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan of the New Hampshire National Guard to bring her same-sex partner to a yellow ribbon family reintegration event in North Conway this weekend,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen just announced in a press release. Shaheen had written a letter urging Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to review the military’s regulations prohibiting same-sex couples from attending such events. “This is terrific news for Charlie Morgan and her family,” said Shaheen. “But this is just one small part of a much larger problem. We have a fundamental inequity in our policy, which has created two classes of soldiers. It isn’t fair and it has to end.” Indeed, while gays and lesbians can now serve openly, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act still denies same-sex couples and their families access to federal benefits."

ThinkProgress

Gay Marriage In The Military? SLDN Prepares For Next Fight

"With “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” relegated to the dustbin of history, the largest group representing gay troops is gunning for gay marriage.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) plans to file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as it relates to gay and lesbian service members.Since 1996, federal agencies and the military have been barred from recognizing the legal marriages of gay couples because of DOMA, which defines marriage as a heterosexual union.SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis told The Huffington Post that his group will argue that DOMA violates gay military couples' Fifth Amendment right to due process."

-On Top magazine

Obama Expects DOMA Ruling ’Soon’

Barack Obama said during a Sept. 28 meeting that he expects a court ruling "soon" on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), an anti-gay law from 1996 that singles out gay and lesbian families for discriminatory treatment by denying them federal recognition of any sort, ThinkProgress reported that same day.

Two federal court cases have already found DOMA to be unconstitutional. The Obama Administration announced earlier this year that it would no longer defend the law in court, where at least ten cases challenge the law, because of Constitutional questions.

House Republicans have vowed to defend the law, and have resorted to using taxpayer money to hire a private lawyer to defend DOMA.

"The legal team that Boehner and the Republicans hired has since come under harsh criticism for arguing that homosexuality is a choice, misrepresenting research, and relying on such experts as ex-gay advocate George Rekers and the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher," reported ThinkProgress."

-full report at EDGE Dallas

Deportation halted for lesbian Mexican national in same-sex marriage

A Colorado immigration judge halted the deportation on Friday of a lesbian Mexican national in a same-sex marriage who would be eligible for a marriage-based green card if not for the Defense of Marriage Act.

-full report at Washington Blade