In the wake of last month's decision by the Obama administration to have the Justice Department stop defending DOMA in court, the battle over the 15-year old law is heating up:
In the House, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, will join the chamber’s four openly gay members – Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.) – in introducing a bill to repeal DOMA, the 1996 law which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will introduce a companion bill in the Senate.
Meanwhile, 94 House Republicans have introduced a resolution to condemn the Obama administration and to demand the Justice Department defend the discriminatory law "in all instances." Not because they're bigoted homophobes, of course, but because:
Whereas the vast majority of Americans believe that marriage should continue to be what it always has been--the legal and spiritual union between one man and one woman
Except they don't:
Overall, 51 percent oppose a Defense of Marriage Law that prohibits federal recognition of legally performed marriages. Just 34 percent favor.
Not that the House GOP will let any facts get in the way of their "whereas." Or their teahadist base.