Gay marriage battles loom in several states

1st domestic partner certificate in Nevada (Photo: AP)

Should gays be allowed to marry? The question has been a hot button issue for years, but has taken center stage since early in 2009.

Legal activity on gay marriage in 2009:

In April the state of Iowa's Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage, unanimously deciding that such a ban violated that state's equal protection clause. Three days later the state of Vermont followed suit and legalized gay marriage. Then, on April 17th, after weeks of flip-flopping on the issue, New York Governor David Patterson introduced a gay rights bill in the state legislature, which has yet to be voted on. On April 30th, the state of New Hampshire also passed a same-sex marriage bill, and the next day, the Maine state senate passed a similar bill, which is being challenged in the November elections. It is noteworthy that on the same day, May 1st, the country of Sweden legalized gay marriage as well. In mid-May both the states of Maryland and Wisconsin announced that they would begin the proceeding to legalize same sex marriage as well. On May 19th, US Rep John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, announced that he was working on legislation which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. On June 3rd, the gay marriage battle began in Pennsylvania when two state senators introduced competing bills, one which would legalize gay marriage and another which would ban it. And at the same time, Prop 8, which repealed California's gay marriage laws, was upheld in court. Interestingly, on June 4th, former Vice President Dick Cheney made statements in favor of gay marriage, saying: "I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish." And on July 8th, the state of Massachusetts filed suit against the federal government, for the repeal of DOMA, claiming that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally oversteps its bounds in a state's rights to define marriage. Last week, a Dallas judge issues a ruling allowing a gay couple living in the state to file for divorce in Texas, which currently does not allow gay couples to marry.  That state Attorney General Greg Abbott is appealing the decision. Washington D.C.'s city council will also introduce next week, a law allowing gays to marry. Earlier in the spring, DC passed a law recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. On October 1st, Illinois State Senator Heather Steans introduced a bill which would legalize gay marriage in the state. Also on October 1st, Nevada's new domestic partner laws went into effect.

President Obama and gay marriage, military service, DOMA & DADT:

During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to repeal DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell, yet little action has been taken by the White House or Congress to address these concerns. In June, the White House issued a statement which seemed to be supporting DOMA. In May, Secretary Clinton announced that the State Department would extend benefits to same-sex couples working abroad, but admitted limits to what benefits could be offered inside the US because existing laws conflicted with such an initiative. A month later, on June 17th, the president attempted to correct this problem by signing a measure which extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, although few changes have actually been implemented as of this time.

The repeal of DADT took center stage on June 30th when Lt. Dan Choi was discharged from the military because of his sexuality. Gay activists at the time called on the president to issue a stop-loss order to retain Choi, and to make a statement of support for gays in the military. Over a 160,000 people signed a petition to the president pleading for him to help Choi, but Obama chose not to intervene. This led to a huge outcry in the gay community, with activist Michael Rowe from the Huffington Post claiming that it was time for the gay community to get over it's "battered wife syndrome," and stop supporting politicians who regularly abuse and ignore them. In the end of May, the president was given credit for "weakening" DADT by not opposing a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which allowed a lesbian Naval officer to remain in the service.  As was pointed out by several pundits, doing nothing is still doing nothing. The premise upon which Obama claimed credit for helping GLBT causes was stretched thin by the situation. The Defense Department has also hampered any presidential action on GLBT issues, particularly DADT, by asking for more time to settle the issue internally because it is "so polarizing."

Bill Clinton speaks out in favor of gays:

Former President Bill Clinton last week told CNN that he was wrong to oppose gay marriage:

In an interview with CNN’s openly gay Anderson Cooper, Clinton spoke about changing has mind. Clinton says that while he did not support same-sex marriage in the past, he always supported the rights of gay individuals and gay adoption and recently began to see the contradiction.

“I grew up at a different time… I had all these gay friends. I had all these gay couple friends. And I decided I was wrong,” says Clinton in the interview.

Here is a video of the interview with Anderson Cooper:

Slow or no action from Obama administration:

In spite of increased pressure across the nation to act on gay marriage and gay military service members, President Obama has reiterated his reluctance to act. National Security Adviser Jim Jones announced last week that the president will take on DADT at the "right time." Jones also said that Obama, "has an awful lot on his desk. I know this is an issue that he intends to take on at the appropriate time. And he has already signaled that to the Defense Department. The Defense Department is doing the things it has to do to prepare, but at the right time, I'm sure the president will take it on."

States that currently allow gay marriage (Image: Wikipedia Commons)