This is one reason many of us New Yorkers told friends and family that Eric Schneiderman would be a strong advocate — perhaps an even better Attorney General than Eliot Spitzer. NYTimes:
The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, acting just days after the state began allowing gay couples to wed, filed a legal brief on Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Mr. Schneiderman asserted that the law, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, violates the right to equal protection under the law for gay and lesbian couples.
The brief, filed in Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York, refers specifically to New York State’s Marriage Equality Act, which was approved by lawmakers last month and took effect to great fanfare on Sunday.
“Without such equal treatment by the federal government,” Mr. Schneiderman wrote, “New York’s statutory commitment to marriage equality for all married couples will be substantially unrealized.”
Mr. Schneiderman submitted the brief in support of Edith S. Windsor, the plaintiff in Windsor v. United States. Ms. Windsor was married in Canada in 2007 to her longtime partner, Thea Spyer. The couple lived in New York City, and when Ms. Spyer died two years after their marriage, the federal government refused to recognize their marriage and collected estate taxes on her inheritance, prompting the lawsuit.
Ms. Windsor’s legal challenge was one of two lawsuits that prompted President Obama in February to direct the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which Mr. Obama determined was unconstitutional.
The full 25-page brief can be found here. Kudos to Schneiderman for capitalizing on, as I’ve written, an important window of opportunity to raise awareness that while same-sex couples can be married in New York, their marriages are not equal. People who don’t know a thing about DOMA will read and hear about this, and that serves an important purpose in public education.
After a hiatus, please welcome back Matt Baume, who just joined the team of the American Foundation for Equal Rights (lucky to have him!), for his weekly posts on marriage equality! -Adam
By Matt Baume
Pretty quiet week, nothing too exciting — except everyone in New York getting married! Plus hearings on DOMA repeal, with Al Franken calling out an anti-gay liar. Plus more news from Maryland to Washington state.
Here’s Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd getting married at midnight at Niagra Falls on Sunday. It’s huge that we now have marriage in New York. But it’s also important to recognize what we still don’t have: recognition in the vast majority of states, or from the federal government.
In fact, for some gay and lesbian couples, getting married carries special gay-only penalties. Under some circumstances, it could become harder for those couples to adopt. They could take on an extra federal tax burden. And if one of them is in the Army, they can still be discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
So gay couples can get married — but even in New York, we still aren’t treated the same way as straight couples.
For now.
The other big news last week were the hearings on DOMA in Washington DC. Congress is still a long way off from repealing the law — that is, if a legal challenge doesn’t invalidate it first. At this point, getting witnesses to speak on the record about DOMA’s effects is a significant step.
The best highlight from the hearings was when Al Franken caught anti-gay activist Tom Minnery in a big lie.
FRANKEN: You cite a Department of Health and Human Services study that I have right here. … And it actually doesn’t say what you said it says. It says that nuclear families, not opposite-sex married families, are associated with those positive outcomes. Isn’t it true, Mr. Minnery, that a married same-sex couple that has had or adopted kids would fall under the definition of a nuclear family in the study that you cite?
MINNERY: I would think that the study, when it cites nuclear families, would mean a family headed by a husband and wife.
FRANKEN: It doesn’t. … And I frankly don’t really know how we can trust the rest of your testimony if you are reading studies these ways.
They do this all the time. The truth is that when studies compare gay parents and straight parents, they’re pretty much indistinguishable. That’s why so many professional organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have endorsed marriage equality. So if you hear someone say otherwise, don’t be afraid to tell them that you know they’re lying.
It’s kind of amazing how much has changed since DOMA was signed. The think tank Third Way has a new study out documenting our advancements. One of the most important changes: the number of people who say that they know a gay or lesbian person has gone up by 35 percentage points, from 42 to 77 percent. Of course, everyone knows an LGBT person, since we’re everywhere — in every town, every company, every family. All that’s changed is that more of us are open and honest than ever before.
So. What’s next?
Maryland. This week Governor Martin O’Malley committed to making marriage a top legislative priority in 2012. His tepid support during this year’s legislative session was partially blamed when a marriage bill failed to pass, so we have a very good chance of winning Maryland, possibly in a special session as early as October of this year.
And then there’s Washington state. This week Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown pledged to make a “serious effort” to pass a marriage equality bill within the next year.
So 2012 is shaping up to be an extremely busy year, with marriage fights all over the country. Oh, and also there’s going to be a presidential race, so clear your calendar. We’ll see you next week.
Sen. Feinstein was on CNN’s State of the Union yesterday, talking DOMA repeal in the context of marriage in NY:
One of the more uncovered issues (with the exception of CNN, to their credit) is how more couples married in NY will find the pain of DOMA now more applicable to their lives, which presents our movement with a strong organizing opportunity. Many same-sex couples think their marriages are equal to heterosexual marriages. They aren’t. Or, as Larry Kramer put it in his usual forceful way:
“These marriages, in whichever state, are what I call feel-good marriages,” Kramer told The New York Times for a story published over the weekend, as the first ceremonies took place. “Compared to the benefits heterosexual marriages convey, gay marriages are an embarrassment — that we should accept so little, and with so much hoopla of excitement and self-congratulation.”
I wouldn’t dismiss the joy in the way Larry does, but his point is well-taken. As I’ve written before, I was shocked when I went home recently that for all amount that people wanted to talk about marriage in NY, no one knew what the Defense of Marriage Act was. A strong public education opportunity. The next time someone asks me “isn’t it great?”, one might reply, “yes, but…” and continue the process of educating and mobilizing.
A lawsuit challenging the legality of the process that brought gay “marriage” legislation to the floor of the New York State Senate will be filed in the Livingston County Supreme Court this morning.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, Rev. Jason J. McGuire, Rev. Duane R. Motley and Rabbi Nathaniel S. Leiter are listed as plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, represented by the Liberty Counsel, contend that same-sex “marriage” legislation was only able to pass the State Legislature through:
-meetings that violated New York State Open Meetings Laws.
-the suspension of normal Senate voting procedures to prevent Senators who opposed the bill from speaking.
-failure to follow Senate procedures that require that a bill must be sent to appropriate committees prior to being placed before the full Senate for a vote.
-unprecedented Senate lock-outs by which lobbyists and the public were denied access to elected representatives.
-the Governor’s violation of the constitutionally mandated three-day review period before the Legislature votes on a bill by unjustifiably issuing a message of necessity.
-promises (which were fulfilled) by high-profile elected officials and Wall Street financiers to make large campaign contributions to Republican senators who switched their vote from opposing to supporting the Marriage Equality Act.
Look, I completely defend their right to bring a case. Have at it. Because not only is it a great American freedom, but also: These continued theatrics against something the state’s residents support in majority numbers only help our future pushes. A loss on this for them will mean another step towards our sustainable win.
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