Democrats Reintroduce Bill To Repeal Defense Of Marriage Act
WASHINGTON -- Democrats kicked off the new congressional session Tuesday
by reintroducing legislation to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage
Act, which allows states to refuse to legally recognize gay and lesbian
couples married in other states.
The
Supreme Court struck down a portion of DOMA last year that barred the
federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. But because the
rest of the law is still in effect, states that have banned same-sex
marriage are not required to recognize legal marriages performed in
other states. Same-sex marriage is now legal in 36 states -- Florida
joined the group on Monday -- and in the District of Columbia, while the remaining 14 states have explicitly banned it.
The bill introduced Tuesday,
called the Respect for Marriage Act, repeals DOMA entirely. If it were
to become law, all legally married same-sex couples would have access to
federal marriage benefits and protections, even if they moved to states
that haven't legalized gay marriage. It wouldn't require states to pass
marriage equality laws; it would only require that legally married
same-sex couples living in those states receive the same federal
benefits as other married couples.
The
measure isn't likely to go anywhere. It only has one GOP cosponsor,
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), in a Congress led entirely by
Republicans. Despite the fact that it's been introduced in every
Congress since 2009, the only action it has ever seen was in November
2011, when the Senate Judiciary Committee passed it.
But
Democrats are making it clear by reintroducing the bill on day one that
LGBT rights are a party priority and something they want to champion
ahead of the 2016 presidential election. This year's bill has 42
cosponsors in the Senate and 79 in the House. It also picked up a
notable new cosponsor: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
"We
must finish the job begun by the Supreme Court by passing the Respect
for Marriage Act," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the bill's House
sponsor. "The bill provides a uniform rule for recognizing couples under
federal law, ensuring that lawfully married couples will be recognized
under federal law no matter where they live and guaranteeing that all
families can plan for a future of mutual obligation and support with
confidence."
"Only
when this bill is passed will we be able to guarantee the federal
rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage for all loving
couples," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), its Senate sponsor. "I
call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill."
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