For some, DOMA is purely a legal exercise. For many of us, it's our lives.

[kpete]

A word about Barack Obama and the lawyers in our midst
by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 6/13/2009 10:11:00 AM

...............................

For some, the decision whether to defend or oppose DOMA is purely a legal exercise. For many of us, it's our lives. I'm sure, along the way, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP were told to back off on their challenge to Topeka's segregation law. After all, that law had been unsuccessfully challenged already, and there was that very clear Supreme Court precedent on "separate, but equal." The law is the law. Who was this political activist Thurgood Marshall to suggest it should be overturned?

It's shocking how many people viewed yesterday's DOMA discussion through their own purely intellectual, legal lens. The condescending tone from some of the legal types, both straight and gay - all Democrat - was insulting, demeaning, and horribly out of touch (with their own humanity). Gay Americans lost rights last November in California. We had fundamental rights taken away by an election. Think about that. When was the last time that happened in this country?

more:
http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/word-about-barack-obama-and-lawyers-in.html
via:
http://firedoglake.com/2009/06/14/doma-and-the-democrats/

[xchrom]

1. while it's not shocking to me --

this underscores the wheel lgbtiq people seem stuck on with the democratic party --

'It's shocking how many people viewed yesterday's DOMA discussion through their own purely intellectual, legal lens. The condescending tone from some of the legal types, both straight and gay - all Democrat - was insulting, demeaning, and horribly out of touch (with their own humanity). Gay Americans lost rights last November in California. We had fundamental rights taken away by an election. Think about that. When was the last time that happened in this country?'

[hlthe2b]

2. As a woman whose right to control her own body is being eroded

both legally and functionally by the ongoing terrorist campaign against planned parenthood, ob/gyn clinics that might deign to provide legal abortion,and women as a class, I understand the civil rights issues very very well, my GLBT colleagues.

[Autumn]

3. #5 off to the greatest

It is a scary time for ALL of us. We are losing on all fronts it seems like.

[dickthegrouch]

4. and lest anyone not understand

"Our lives" means
Our self esteem
Our finances
Our ability to care for our spouse in emergency situations
Our right to live without fear of attack
Our right not to be treated as 2nd class citizens
Our right to inherit property from our spouse

and many many many more

that come with a simple stroke of the pen to heterosexuals (whether they love each other not).

[WillParkinson]

5. Leave Britney alone!

:-)

[bluedawg12]

6. Some of the discussions

during the last few days were fascinating.

Rather than rehashing why many of the positions were wrong, let me just agree with you, they, along with the Court filing were a demeaning and dehumanizing experience. As was hate8. As was the recent CSSC hearing and the arguments offered by the opposition and Ken Starr.

Yet,we keep trying?

[greeneyedboy]

7. k&r. rather than lecture queers on patience, propriety, and political capital...

perhaps our self-styled allies could spare a minute to push Obama, the DOJ, &/or Congress on civil rights.

[jberryhill]

8. Thurgood Marshall and _Brown v. Board_

It is worth asking why that case was what it was.

That was certainly not the only segregated school system in the country.

Brown v. Board was the culmination of building precedent among carefully chosen cases, Marshall was one of the architects of a strategy that led to it.

[Toasterlad]

11. Wow, You Just Won't Quit, Will You?

Is it completely lost on you that you're EXACTLY the kind of unempathetic jerkwad the OP is talking about?

We don't care if you don't care about the rights of gay people. But could you please refrain from lecturing us about why we're not allowed to get angry at legal maneuvers made to fuck us over?

Seriously, please go crawl under a rock.

[Starry Messenger]

9. excellent article.

I've put a few of DU's "lawyers" on ignore for just this tone. I'm sick of the "it doesn't say incest or pedophilia in the brief" meme. People who have been actually been paying attention to what 'wingers like FOF, AFA, ProtectMarriage, NOM, etc...know that this is exactly the kind of crap that they push. They have lawyers, too. They will say in the news that the language is neutral and "just legalities". And then in their hate literature they do exactly these comparisons. See: Rick Warren. Anyone who thinks this was just some random legal happenstance is not working with the full picture.


Witness the lack of understanding in people of what Prop H8 really was. I mean, all it says is "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.". Sexual orientation isn't mentioned in that ruling so I guess it's not really about gay people, right? :sarcasm:

edt: typo

[Toasterlad]

10. They Don't Give a Shit

It's not THEIR rights. It's not THEIR problem. They completely lack the ability to empathize with an oppressed person. As far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty fair definition of evil.

[GodlessBiker]

12. As a lawyer, I give this post an A+. The DOJ's DOMA brief must be condemned on all fronts.

And Mr. Sudbay is correct...this is a matter of our lives.

Ya know, every aspect of the Nazi's persecution of Jews (and others) - including laws prohibiting Jews from marrying non-Jews, prohibiting Jews from owning property, and requiring that Jews live in certain areas - was justified by lawyers, established through formal law based upon the arguments of lawyers, and enforced through the courts. When lawyers and judges were charged with war crimes based upon their actions, their defense that they were just doing what lawyers and judges do within the bounds of the law fell on deaf ears, and they were convicted.

[keepCAblue]

13. Careful, that kind of analogy will get you labeled as an "anti-Semite" here on DU.

How DARE you compare, in any aspect, the persecution of German Jews with LGBT Americans. Ditto, for daring to compare LGBT civil rights with that of black Americans...that'll get you the "racist" label.

Apparently, we LGBT Americans just haven't suffered enough to *earn* the right to compare our rights to that of other, more *deserving* minorities.

[AntiFascist]

15. Excellent point, though it will likely get ignored because you mentioned "Nazis"

When discrimination gets written into the law, then it can always be argued that it is perfectly legal and that people are only "doing their jobs" when defending The Law. What about equal protection under the law? Well, according to the California Supreme Court, they answer to no higher power than The People, even when a bare majority of the people are acting out of fear and bigotry.

[mitchtv]

14. I am morose,

and I have given up hope for progress in my life, Thank God my own marriage slipped through the window, But I suspect we will become targests as the nation strives to obey Obama's anti gay agenda