President Obama's announced support for gay marriage seems to have the Senate thinking about equality. First, Sen. Tom Harkin
announces hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate might try to
repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
A day after President Barack Obama endorsed gay marriage, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested Thursday that Democrats may move to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the Clinton-era law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. [...]
"If it gets on the floor, we’ll be happy to take a look at it," Reid said Thursday. "It’s an important piece of legislation." [...]
Reid would not commit to a timeframe for taking up the Defense of Marriage Act repeal, which was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and has languished since passing the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote in November.
"I just don’t know where it is now and we have a few other things to do," the majority leader said. "Presumably ... the Republicans won’t let us get it on the floor anyway, but we’ll take a look at it.
"It’s not a Democratic problem, it’s a Republican problem."
It's a little on the non-committal side, but it's much closer today to being something Reid would even think about trying to bring to the floor than it was yesterday, and that's a much welcomed development.
As of yesterday, the effort has one new cosponsor:
I support same sex marriage and will cosponsor the Respect for Marriage Act. #MarriageEquality #LGBT
— @SenJackReed via web
2:33 PM PT: Ask your senators to sign on to the Defense of Marriage Act repeal.