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Senate Hearing To Repeal DOMA Fraught With Problems For Anti-Gay Groups

20 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Al Franken looks bored. That is not surprising. Committee hearings are rather boring. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been hearing evidence both for and against repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. While the hearing heard testimony about the financial and symbolic damage that DOMA does to couples, it is unlikely that the Respect for Marriage Act will get anywhere in the House where the Republicans will ignore it.

Heading up the push for the RFMA is Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. When DOMA first came in, Senator Leahy voted for it, but a decade and a half later, he has changed his mind and is pushing to end it. He has also hailed the decision by President Barack Obama to support the repeal of DOMA.

Today, during the testimony, Leahy asked Tom Minnery from Focus on the Family to explain whether or not DOMA hurts children. After making it clear that Leahy wanted a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to the very carefully worded question, Leahy got the answer that, yes, DOMA hurts children.

Here is the clip

LEAHY: Are they not disadvantaged by not having the same financial benefits that an opposite sex family would have?

MINNERY: Well, as I say, not knowing the details of which families you are speaking off, certainly children are better off with parents in the home.

LEAHY: Yes or no, it’s not a trick question — if you have parents legally married under the laws of the state — one set of parents are entitled to certain financial benefits for their children, the other set of parents are denied those same financial benefits for their children…are not those children of the second family, are they not at a disadvantage, yes or no?

MINNERY: That would be yes, as you asked the question earlier Senator.

Meanwhile, while Maggie Gallagher was invited to speak today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she declined. According to Senator Chuck Grassley “The minority very much hoped to call a witness today at this hearing to testify in support of DOMA, I’m sure she would have done an excellent job. She declined, however, citing one reason the threats and intimidation that have been leveled not only her but her friends and family as a result of her support of DOMA. She will continue to write on the issue but will no longer speak publicly.”

Maybe this is because of the fact that she knows that Senator Patrick Leahy would have made her look like a fool in front of the cameras, and if Leahy hadn’t, then Senator Franken would have as he did Tom Minnery.

Meanwhile, New Yorker Evan Wolfson, the head of Freedom to Marry, gave testimony today discussing the second-class nature of same-se marriage.

He told Senators today:

“DOMA stigmatizes people by dividing those married at the state level into first-class marriages and second-class marriages for those the federal government doesn’t like. But in America, we don’t have second-class citizens, and we shouldn’t have second-class marriages either.”

“This Sunday, many will watch as joyous couples in New York State declare their love and have their commitment confirmed by the state. Yet as they join in marriage, these couples will experience first-hand the sting of discrimination by the federal government. They will endure the intangible yet very real pain of being branded a second-class citizen, and suffer the tangible harm of being excluded from the safety net of protections and responsibilities that other married couples cherish.”

“It is time for Congress to end this discrimination. It is time to pass the Respect for Marriage Act.”

Ron Wallen testified about the harm DOMA has inflicted on him after the death of his spouse. Wallen married his partner of 58 years, Tom Carrollo, in California before the freedom to marry was stripped away by Proposition 8. Carrollo died in March 2011. Because DOMA denies him access to the Social Security Survivor benefit, Wallen can no longer afford to live in the home he shared with his husband and, as a result, he is rushing to sell the home even as he answers condolence cards. Here are excerpts from his remarks:

“Tom and I played by the rules, as we pursued our own version of the American dream. We served our country; we paid our taxes; we volunteered; we maintained our home, and got married as soon as we were legally able to do so.”

“And yet, as I face a future without my spouse, it is hard to accept that it is the federal government that is throwing me out of my family home. Congress can fix this problem by repealing DOMA. It’s a discriminatory law against gay and lesbian couples who have assumed all the responsibilities of marriage. All we ask is to be treated fairly, just like other loving and committed married couples. I beg you to repeal this law.”