Specter Calls for Repeal of Marriage Act (NYT / The Caucus)

[struggle4progress]

By Kate Phillips

Updated: First, he spoke on the Senate floor Monday evening and then put out a bulletin on Twitter.

And on Tuesday morning, Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican-turned Democrat who is running for his sixth term in the Senate, posted a short piece on the Huffington Post’s Web site in which he says it’s time to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act ...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/specter-calls-for-repeal-of-marriage-act/

[struggle4progress]

1. Specter: Repeal Defense of Marriage Act, 'Don't ask, don't tell' (The Hill)

By Tony Romm - 10/27/09 12:04 PM ET

... Although Specter more than a decade ago voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed at the time by then-President Bill Clinton, he wrote in an op-ed published at The Huffington Post this morning that "the Act is a relic of a more tradition-bound time and culture."

"Connecticut, Iowa, and Massachusetts have already passed laws recognizing same sex marriage and other states are moving in that direction," Specter explained, noting that laws regulating "personal behavior" rarely work, as prohibition once demonstrated ...

... the senator noted in his op-ed that a quick repeal of DOMA would be "one step among several designed to fully integrate and protect the rights of gays and lesbians in American society." He also urged lawmakers to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, which he originally co-sponsored, and end the country's "Don't ask, don't tell policy," which prohibits gays from openly serving in the military.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/64953-specter-repeal-defense-of-marriage-act-qdont-ask-dont-tellq

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Oh. I see. The 1990's were a "more tradition bound time and....

>>>>.. Although Specter more than a decade ago voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed at the time by then-President Bill Clinton, he wrote in an op-ed published at The Huffington Post this morning that "the Act is a relic of a more tradition-bound time and culture.">>>>>>


...culture."

"*ALL* politicians should be dead for three hundred years!"

[WillParkinson]

2. It's time?

Bastard. Neither of these hateful bills ever should have been passed in the first place.

[struggle4progress]

4. Understandable reaction, especially with Specter, who's been known to say one thing

and do another

Of course, DADT was the tiny step forward we got after the Republican National Tantrum stalled Clinton's attempt to allow gays to serve openly

And DOMA may actually have served as a firebreak against Republican efforts to amend the Constitution

But I agree: they're hateful bills

[RetiredTrotskyite]

5. Time For All These Things

to go the way of the dinosaur. But I do think that DOMA did keep the Constitution safe. Just think of the mess we'd have trying to undo a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage!

[Skittles]

6. I AGREE