Defense of Marriage and not just white guys after all
More from our new friend, lc scotty:
“I was not aware that there was a federal law (on the books, not a bill circulating congress) that expressly forbids states from recognizing other states same sex marriages/civil unions. That sounds, well, wrong? Is the law more along the lines that it does not force other states to recognize these unions? Not that that makes it ok, I'm just trying to understand the current law. I can't fathom congress passing a law that would forbid Vermont from recognizing Connecticut's unions. That doesn't pass the sniff test.”
Well, sniff ahead, because what you’re smelling passed on Bill Clinton’s watch, as I was reminded by my best (white male) friend: The Defense of Marriage Act. It was passed, in part, I believe, as a mea culpa for Clinton’s receipt of, shall we say, “favors” while in (the Oval) office... that’s not an excuse, just my view. And Hillary was right there with him. So if you are in a same-sex relationship and were married in, say, Vermont... your marriage does not have to be recognized in Utah. (And don’t get me started on what goes on THERE.)
Bill Clinton also passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation while he was Commander In Chief; this after garnering “the gay vote,” if there is such a thing anymore.
I was also reminded by John (the aforementioned best friend) that Sen. John Kerry refused to take any substantive stand on the issue during his campaign (prompting John among other LGBT friends to vote for Nader). Rev. Jesse Jackson caved to pressure from fellow pastors as well. So it’s not just white straight males at fault; as I mentioned in the last posting, there’s plenty of shared blame.
“I was not aware that there was a federal law (on the books, not a bill circulating congress) that expressly forbids states from recognizing other states same sex marriages/civil unions. That sounds, well, wrong? Is the law more along the lines that it does not force other states to recognize these unions? Not that that makes it ok, I'm just trying to understand the current law. I can't fathom congress passing a law that would forbid Vermont from recognizing Connecticut's unions. That doesn't pass the sniff test.”
Well, sniff ahead, because what you’re smelling passed on Bill Clinton’s watch, as I was reminded by my best (white male) friend: The Defense of Marriage Act. It was passed, in part, I believe, as a mea culpa for Clinton’s receipt of, shall we say, “favors” while in (the Oval) office... that’s not an excuse, just my view. And Hillary was right there with him. So if you are in a same-sex relationship and were married in, say, Vermont... your marriage does not have to be recognized in Utah. (And don’t get me started on what goes on THERE.)
Bill Clinton also passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation while he was Commander In Chief; this after garnering “the gay vote,” if there is such a thing anymore.
I was also reminded by John (the aforementioned best friend) that Sen. John Kerry refused to take any substantive stand on the issue during his campaign (prompting John among other LGBT friends to vote for Nader). Rev. Jesse Jackson caved to pressure from fellow pastors as well. So it’s not just white straight males at fault; as I mentioned in the last posting, there’s plenty of shared blame.
posted by Amy Barlow Liberatore @ 3:11 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:35 AM,
LC Scotty said…
So it is essentially as I suspected. In your analogy, Utah is not forced to recognize Vermont same-sex couples, but if the people of Utah were to choose to (You are now entering Bizaro world...) recognize them, the federal law would not prohibit it. That is pretty much how I figured it would work, federalism vs states rights and all that.
On the other post, now I gotta go re-read the constitution. Talk to you later.
S
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