Obama Endorses 'Respect for Marriage' Act
White House press secretary Jay Carney broke a bit of news in today's briefing: President Obama publicly supports the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal all three sections of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Not really shocking, since he's been against DOMA since his earliest days on the campaign trail, but this endorsement of the actual repeal bill will help draw attention to the Senate hearing on it that's scheduled for tomorrow.
On Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the new bill, which would repeal all three sections of DOMA — which federally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman — including section 1, which is the name; section 2, which instructs states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states; and section 3, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing legally performed same-sex marriages.
Section 3 is the one that the administration recently decided was unconstitutional and stopped defending in court. Now Obama wants the whole thing "off the books once and for all," in Carney's words.
This means it's time to write some more checks, rich gay donors! As if you didn't get that.