Given the growing
number of states where same-sex couples can now marry, The
Advocate asked White House press secretary Robert
Gibbs during Monday's briefing what steps President Obama
is taking to give those couples equal treatment at the federal
level.
Question: The president supported the Defense of Marriage
Act -- full repeal of that during the election.Now that same-sex couples can marry legally in five
different states, what is the president doing to make sure
those marriages can be recognized at the federal level, and
what's the timeline for something like that?
Gibbs: I will -- I have
to go check on that. I honestly don't know the answer to
that.
President Obama took
the strongest stance on the Defense of Marriage Act during the
2008 election -- calling for full repeal, meaning same-sex
marriages performed legally in one state should be legally
portable to other states and the federal government
should recognize those marriages.
As
reported last month
, a handful of lawmakers are crafting a bill that would repeal
section 3 of DOMA, allowing the federal government to recognize
same-sex marriages and perhaps even civil unions or strong
domestic partnerships.
Democratic House
speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, has said repeal of DOMA is not a
legislative priority.
According to the
Bay
Area Reporter
, "The speaker said that her two legislative priorities
for the LGBT community are passage of the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act and the federal hate-crimes bill; the
latter was introduced in Congress earlier this month. She
indicated action on those items would occur before any effort
to repeal DOMA "
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