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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Jun-14-09 10:40 AM Original message |
Excerpts from DOJ motion to dismiss. |
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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Jun-14-09 10:44 AM Response to Original message |
1. ACLU, Lambda , GLAD, et al, reply to Motion to Dismiss. |
http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/gay-groups-decry-obama-defense-of-doma.html
LGBT Legal And Advocacy Groups Decry Obama Administration's Defense of DOMA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 12, 2009 Contact: Paul Cates, ACLU We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act against Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits. The administration is using many of the same flawed legal arguments that the Bush administration used. These arguments rightly have been rejected by several state supreme courts as legally unsound and obviously discriminatory. We disagree with many of the administration’s arguments, for example that DOMA is a valid exercise of Congress’s power, is consistent with Equal Protection or Due Process principles, and does not impinge upon rights that are recognized as fundamental. We are also extremely disturbed by a new and nonsensical argument the administration has advanced suggesting that the federal government needs to be “neutral” with regard to its treatment of married same-sex couples in order to ensure that federal tax money collected from across the country not be used to assist same-sex couples duly married by their home states. There is nothing “neutral” about the federal government’s discriminatory denial of fair treatment to married same-sex couples: DOMA wrongly bars the federal government from providing any of the over one thousand federal protections to the many thousands of couples who marry in six states. This notion of “neutrality” ignores the fact that while married same-sex couples pay their full share of income and social security taxes, they are prevented by DOMA from receiving the corresponding same benefits that married heterosexual taxpayers receive. It is the married same-sex couples, not heterosexuals in other parts of the country, who are financially and personally damaged in significant ways by DOMA. For the Obama administration to suggest otherwise simply departs from both mathematical and legal reality. When President Obama was courting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters, he said that he believed that DOMA should be repealed. We ask him to live up to his emphatic campaign promises, to stop making false and damaging legal arguments, and immediately to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA and ensure that every married couple in America has the same access to federal protections. Signed, ACLU GLAD Lambda Legal NCLR HRC NGLTF |
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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Jun-14-09 11:23 AM Response to Original message |
2. Open Letter from Barack Obama to the LGBT Community - 2008. |
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/02/open_letter_from_barack_obama_to_the_lgb.php
Open Letter from Barack Obama to the LGBT Community Filed by: Guest Blogger February 28, 2008 9:38 AM ditor's note:] The following letter was released by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to GLBT Americans. This letter follows the announcement that the Obama campaign will be taking out full page ads in GLBT newspapers in Ohio and Texas beginning Friday. Read Obama's previous Bilerico guest post A Call for Full Equality. I'm running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all - a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It's wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans. Equality is a moral imperative. That's why throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans. In Illinois, I co-sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation. In the U.S. Senate, I have co-sponsored bills that would equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees. And as president, I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples - whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage. Unlike Senator Clinton, I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - a position I have held since before arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repeal only part of the law, I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether. Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. I have also called for us to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and I have worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system. The next president must also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When it comes to prevention, we do not have to choose between values and science. While abstinence education should be part of any strategy, we also need to use common sense. We should have age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception. We should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And we should lift the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. In addition, local governments can protect public health by distributing contraceptives. We also need a president who's willing to confront the stigma - too often tied to homophobia - that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. I confronted this stigma directly in a speech to evangelicals at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, and will continue to speak out as president. That is where I stand on the major issues of the day. But having the right positions on the issues is only half the battle. The other half is to win broad support for those positions. And winning broad support will require stepping outside our comfort zone. If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and implement fully inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring the message of LGBT equality to skeptical audiences as well as friendly ones - and that's what I've done throughout my career. I brought this message of inclusiveness to all of America in my keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention. I talked about the need to fight homophobia when I announced my candidacy for President, and I have been talking about LGBT equality to a number of groups during this campaign - from local LGBT activists to rural farmers to parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached. Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary. Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. Together, we will achieve real equality for all Americans, gay and straight alike. ............ |
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readmoreoften (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Mon Jun-15-09 01:18 PM Response to Reply #2 |
6. Pathological liar or total coward. Take yer pick. /nt |
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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Jun-14-09 11:39 AM Response to Original message |
3. In 2007 then Sen. Obama voted against constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. |
Voted NO on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage.
Voting YES implies support for amending the constitution to ban same-sex marriage. This cloture motion to end debate requires a 3/5th majority. A constitutional amendment requires a 2/3rd majority. The proposed amendment is: Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman. Proponents of the motion say: If Members of the Senate vote as their States have voted on this amendment, the vote today will be 90 to 10 in favor of a constitutional amendment. Marriage is a foundational institution. It is under attack by the courts. It needs to be defended by defining it as the union of a man and a woman as 45 of our 50 States have done. The amendment is about how we are going to raise the next generation. It is not an issue that the courts should resolve. Those of us who support this amendment are doing so in an effort to let the people decide. Opponents of the motion say: This proposal pits Americans against one another. It appeals to people's worst instincts and prejudices. Supporters rail against activist judges. But if this vaguely worded amendment ever passes, it will result in substantial litigation. What are the legal incidents of marriage? Is a civil union a marriage? Married heterosexual couples are wondering, how, exactly, the prospect of gay marriages threatens the health of their marriages. This amendment would make a minority of Americans permanent second-class citizens of this country. It would prevent States, many of which are grappling with the definition of marriage, from deciding that gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry. And it would write discrimination into a document that has served as a historic guarantee of individual freedom. Reference: Marriage Protection Amendment; Bill S. J. Res. 1 ; vote number 2006-163 on Jun 7, 2006 |
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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Jun-14-09 11:49 AM Response to Reply #3 |
4. The United States Department of Justice. |
"The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans (see 28 U.S.C. § 501). The DOJ is administered by the United States Attorney General (see 28 U.S.C. § 503), one of the original members of the cabinet."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice ......... United States Cabinet "The United States Cabinet (usually referred to as the President's Cabinet or simplified as the Cabinet) is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. Its existence dates back to the first American President, George Washington, who appointed a Cabinet of four people (Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; Secretary of War Henry Knox; and Attorney General Edmund Randolph) to advise and assist him in his duties... Aside from the Attorney General, and previously, the Postmaster General, they all receive the title Secretary. Members of the Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President... Traditionally, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General are the most important members of Cabinet, and form an inner circle" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Cabinet ........ The United States Attorney General The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see 28 U.S.C. § 503) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The Attorney General is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government. The Attorney General serves as a member of the President's Cabinet, but is the only cabinet department head who is not given the title Secretary, besides the now defunct Postmaster General. The Attorney General is nominated by the President of the United States and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate. He or she serves at the pleasure of the President... - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General ...... |
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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Jun-14-09 12:12 PM Response to Original message |
5. Coretta Scott King. |
Source: Reuters, March 31, 1998.
Coretta Scott King, speaking four days before the 30th anniversary of her husband's assassination, said Tuesday the civil rights leader's memory demanded a strong stand for gay and lesbian rights. "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice," she said. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" "I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people," she said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Chicago Defender, April 1, 1998, front page. Speaking before nearly 600 people at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Coretta Scott King, the wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Tuesday called on the civil rights community to join in the struggle against homophobia and anti-gay bias. "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood," King stated. "This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group." |
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Cherchez la Femme (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Mon Jun-15-09 05:00 PM Response to Original message |
7. 3 recs? What gives? |
Are these O-DOMA threads ALL being buried?
|
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bluedawg12 (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Thu Jun-18-09 03:16 PM Response to Original message |
8. Frank vs. Frank |
Frank vs. Frank.
The original response to the DOJ brief by Rep. Frank was posted on Wed., June 17, 2009, in the GLBT forum, based on an interview with Rep. Frank in the Boston Herald. His opinion at that time was similar to other analyses of the DOJ brief and Rep. Frank’s opinion was consonant with the opinions of legal expert at a time proximate to the release of the DOJ brief last week. On Thursday, Barney Frank walked it back a tad. Rep. Barney Frank Wednesday: http://bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2009_06_17_Barney_Frank_rips_prez_s_%E2%80%98big_mistake_:_Fuming_over_anti-gay_wed_filing/srvc=home&position=6 Barney Frank rips prez’s ‘big mistake’ Fuming over anti-gay wed filing By Dave Wedge Wednesday, June 17, 2009 U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, one of the nation’s leading gay rights champions, blasted President Obama yesterday over a controversial anti-gay marriage court filing and is calling on the commander in chief to explain himself. “I think the administration made a big mistake. The wording they used was inappropriate,” Frank (D-Newton) said of a brief filed by Obama’s Department of Justice that supported the Defense of Marriage Act. The DOJ brief, which has touched off a firestorm of anger in the gay community, argued that states should not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, just as states don’t have to recognize incestuous marriages or unions involving underage girls. Rep. Barney frank Thursday: http://www.house.gov/frank/pressreleases/2009/06-17-09-doma.html PRESS RELEASE Congressman Frank Corrects Media Reports on his Response to DOMA Brief June 17, 2009 Congressman Barney Frank issued the following statement in response to a newspaper story regarding his position on the brief by the Department of Justice about Smelt v. United States. PRESS RELEASE Congressman Frank Corrects Media Reports on his Response to DOMA Brief June 17, 2009 Congressman Barney Frank issued the following statement in response to a newspaper story regarding his position on the brief by the Department of Justice about Smelt v. United States. “When I was called by a newspaper reporter for reaction to the administration’s brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, I made the mistake of relying on other people’s oral descriptions to me of what had been in the brief, rather than reading it first. It is a lesson to me that I should not give in to press insistence that I comment before I have had a chance fully to inform myself on the subject at hand.” “Now that I have read the brief, I believe that the administration made a conscientious and largely successful effort to avoid inappropriate rhetoric. There are some cases where I wish they had been more explicit in disavowing their view that certain arguments were correct, and to make it clear that they were talking not about their own views of these issues, but rather what was appropriate in a constitutional case with a rational basis standard – which is the one that now prevails in the federal courts, although I think it should be upgraded.” “It was my position in that conversation with the reporter that the administration had no choice but to defend the constitutionality of the law. I think it is unwise for liberals like myself, who were consistently critical of President Bush’s refusal to abide by the law in cases where he disagreed with it to now object when President Obama refuses to follow the Bush example. It is the President’s job to try to change the law, but it is also his obligation to uphold and defend it when it has been enacted by appropriate processes. It would not be wise, in my judgment, for those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, or who sympathize with the fight for our rights, to argue for a precedent that says that executives who disagreed politically with the purpose of the law should have the option of refusing to defend it in a constitutional case.” “I strongly opposed DOMA when it was adopted and I will continue to fight for changes. I support very strongly the lawsuit brought by the people at Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) that make the cogent argument that DOMA’s provision denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages blatantly violates the equal protection clause. And I will work with the Obama administration as they have promised to do to enact laws protecting LGBT people from hate crimes, from job discrimination, and from discrimination in the military. I will also be critical when I think inappropriate language is used. But after rereading this brief, I do not think that the Obama administration should be subject to harsh criticism in this instance.” Mr. Frank is a politician who has to work within the system, he is free to change his spin day to day, “Go along to get along,” is understandable in politics. As of the release of the Court document in question, legal experts weighed in promptly. LGBT Legal And Advocacy Groups Decry Obama Administration's Defense of DOMA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 12, 2009 Contact: Paul Cates, ACLU We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act against Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits. The administration is using many of the same flawed legal arguments that the Bush administration used. These arguments rightly have been rejected by several state supreme courts as legally unsound and obviously discriminatory. We disagree with many of the administration’s arguments, for example that DOMA is a valid exercise of Congress’s power, is consistent with Equal Protection or Due Process principles, and does not impinge upon rights that are recognized as fundamental. We are also extremely disturbed by a new and nonsensical argument the administration has advanced suggesting that the federal government needs to be “neutral” with regard to its treatment of married same-sex couples in order to ensure that federal tax money collected from across the country not be used to assist same-sex couples duly married by their home states. There is nothing “neutral” about the federal government’s discriminatory denial of fair treatment to married same-sex couples: DOMA wrongly bars the federal government from providing any of the over one thousand federal protections to the many thousands of couples who marry in six states. This notion of “neutrality” ignores the fact that while married same-sex couples pay their full share of income and social security taxes, they are prevented by DOMA from receiving the corresponding same benefits that married heterosexual taxpayers receive. It is the married same-sex couples, not heterosexuals in other parts of the country, who are financially and personally damaged in significant ways by DOMA. For the Obama administration to suggest otherwise simply departs from both mathematical and legal reality. When President Obama was courting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters, he said that he believed that DOMA should be repealed. We ask him to live up to his emphatic campaign promises, to stop making false and damaging legal arguments, and immediately to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA and ensure that every married couple in America has the same access to federal protections. Signed, ACLU GLAD Lambda Legal NCLR HRC NGLTF While, “The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year, according to a national coalition of advocacy groups,” (1) While, “A plurality of DU ranks equal rights as their least important issue.”(2) While more senior members of our community face real life issues of health care and life and death illness, and post here that , “I owe taxes on my hub's medical benefits,” (3) because their marriage as a same sex couple has no Federal standing. While our right to privacy and peaceful assembly and freedom of association are threatened, a cause that should inflame progressives. (4) While people lecture us on how we should be “doing more” even as it is pointed out to them that gay leadership is involved in trying to work and communitctae with the administration, HRC’s Joe Solomonese was at the Presidential memo signing yesterday, and we point out that, “The gay leadership HAS been working with the WH, as have individuals - we have worked, e-mailed, telephoned, donated, voted, canvassed. And there is a bill in Congress on the desk of our politicians - HR1283. And there is a bill for equal domestic benefits.” (5) There is no acknowledgment of that reply made in answer to this comment: "... for every real or perceived "slight" against the GLBT community and slugging it out with each other here at DU, might it not be a little more productive for all of us to pressure our Congressmen and Congresswomen to take up these issues..." nor to those facts, nor a scintilla of voicing support for those bills. While people debate the ownership of the DOJ document the lives of GLBT people remains the same, no substantive change. "...step-at-a-time people whose every step is just a little shorter than the preceding step." (1) http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/17/crimesider/entr... (Original thread in DU GLBT) (2) DU GLBT today. (3) DU GLBT yesterday. (4) DU GLBT Yesterday http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/20093472... “The 58-year-old senior power analyst for Seattle City Light, who is not gay, has crashed gay-rights events at City Hall and sued when he felt he was being excluded from such meetings. A conservative Christian who describes himself in public papers as "a Caucasian with no African-American blood," he became a dues-paying member of the City Light Black Employees' Association. Now he's picking another fight: A judge today will hear arguments on whether the city should release to Irvin the names of anyone who has either attended, or received e-mails to attend, meetings of a city-sponsored affinity group at Seattle Public Utilities — the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Transexual (LGBT), Questioning Employees and Friends group.” (5) Posted today on GDP |
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