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Hypocrisy, a great American tradition
Feb. 23rd, 2011 01:22 pmToday the President announced that he has decided the "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) that was signed into law by Clinton is in fact unconstitutional. (This was obvious from the beginning, so why it took 16 years to decide that is hard to understand. Several lower federal courts have already ruled it invalid and unconstitutional.) That was the idiot law that tried to keep the federal government from recognizing any definition of the terms "marriage" or "spouse" that didn't conform to "one man and one woman." (Ironically, the Mormon church, which was originally founded on polygamy, spent a fortune to pass and promote DOMA.)
However, even though Obama now agrees that the law is unconstitutional, and has directed the Attorney General to no longer try to defend it in court when challenged, he has also told the Justice Department to continue to enforce the law. In other words, he wants to create more court cases and challenges to force the Judiciary to rule on the constitutionality and validity of the law. (Which of course will allow conservatives to keep complaining about "activist judges" trying to write laws themselves, rather than directly blaming Congress or the Executive branch.)
This is a clear sign that the discriminatory attitude of the US government against gays and lesbians is crumbling, but I'd say it's also a sign that Obama himself is still a weak-livered coward who is afraid to stand up for social justice against loud-mouthed conservatives, just as Bill Clinton was.
Reference: http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/23/attorney-general-declares-doma-unconstitutional/
However, even though Obama now agrees that the law is unconstitutional, and has directed the Attorney General to no longer try to defend it in court when challenged, he has also told the Justice Department to continue to enforce the law. In other words, he wants to create more court cases and challenges to force the Judiciary to rule on the constitutionality and validity of the law. (Which of course will allow conservatives to keep complaining about "activist judges" trying to write laws themselves, rather than directly blaming Congress or the Executive branch.)
This is a clear sign that the discriminatory attitude of the US government against gays and lesbians is crumbling, but I'd say it's also a sign that Obama himself is still a weak-livered coward who is afraid to stand up for social justice against loud-mouthed conservatives, just as Bill Clinton was.
Reference: http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/23/attorney-general-declares-doma-unconstitutional/
