In January 2009 when we had a democrat president and majority in the house and senate, the top gay priority ought to have been undoing DOMA, not slow-walking DADT or ENDA. Instead, we had HRC telling us 2015 2017 really wasn't that long to wait. Bad strategy. Yesterday CNN ran this familiar story that because the nefarious Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the government from recognizing gay marriage, queer couples "can't combine their income and deductions to take advantage of lower tax rates." The article runs a scenario showing the imbalance to be as high as $6,043. That's a lot extra to pay to a government that rejects you. Yet it's peanuts compared to far more costly travesties of DOMA that CNN ignores: a surviving queer spouse can't get her/his partner's Social Security. In July, USA Today reported that same-sex couples are blocked from "1,049 federal rights that heterosexual couples receive."
[Yes, in 1996 Clinton could have vetoed DOMA for symbolic purposes. The bill passed 85–14 in the Senate and 342–67 in the House, certain of an override.]
Actually, Salmonese of HRC gave Obama until 1/19/2017 to make good on his campaign promises, so I guess we're lucky to have the DADT repeal (something Obama spent little time or political capital on until forced to it). Still, as HRC continues to point out, Obama is the most gay-friendly president in history, an achievement which, it seems to me, doesn't really set the bar very high.
Posted by: Keppler | December 28, 2011 at 08:25 PM