Ducking the hard issue
Obama's stance on gay marriage is calculus, not courage
BY R. CLARKE COOPER TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011
On Wednesday, President Obama made a dramatic reversal of the Department of Justice’s defense of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. The news provoked an outpouring of celebration among many in the gay and lesbian community. But amid the praise for the president’s “courageous act,” it’s important to realize that Obama’s stance on gay issues is the result of political calculus, not courage.
This was made apparent just two days after the announcement about the act, when the president’s attorneys submitted arguments in the 9th Circuit defending the ban on openly gay servicemembers known as "don’t ask, don’t tell." As a captain in the United States Army Reserve and an openly gay man, I’d like to pose a question to our commander-in-chief: What makes the Defense of Marriage Act indefensible and not don’t ask, don’t tell?
Last year, when the Obama administration announced that it would appeal the decision in Log Cabin Republicans vs. United States that found don’t ask, don’t tell unconstitutional, Democrats bent over backwards to explain that the president had no choice in the matter. Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post declared the president’s defense of don’t ask, don’t tell “the right thing to do.” Liberals fretted that declining to appeal would set a bad precedent, invoking fears of future presidents declining to defend such laws as the recent health-care reform act.
This inconsistency on gay issues is hard to reconcile, unless you consider the politics.
Make no mistake — the Defense of Marriage Act deserves to be eliminated. When President Clinton signed the bill in 1996, it was an unprecedented intrusion by the federal government upon the right of states to make their own decisions about the unions of their citizens.
As argued by Ted Olson, who served as President Bush’s solicitor general, the Defense of Marriage Act is also a violation of the principle of equal protection under the law and the individual freedom to marry the person of one’s choice, regardless of gender. It is ridiculous to suggest that marriage needs to be defended from committed couples who want nothing more than the ability to protect their families.
However, that does not make the Obama administration’s decision not to defend the law an act of political courage, and it is unclear whether, ultimately, this decision will be beneficial for those of us seeking marriage equality.
We know what this decision won’t do. It won’t stop enforcement of the marriage act. Attorney General Eric Holder has emphasized that it is still the law of the land, so as far as the federal government is concerned, same-sex marriages legally conducted in a growing number of states do not exist. American couples taking a road trip this summer will still have to fear that their marriages will disappear as soon as they cross the state line.
This decision also won’t stop the marriage act from being defended in court. Marriage remains a deeply controversial issue in the United States, so much so that recently two very blue states, Illinois and Hawaii, elected to grant their citizens civil unions rather than full marriage equality. At best, public opinion is split 50-50, and it should not be forgotten that the president has yet to declare his unequivocal support for marriage equality.
Nobody should be surprised if and when members of Congress decide to exercise their legal right, and some would say duty, to defend the law. All the president has done with this decision is ensure that others will do his dirty work, leaving him free to enjoy the fruits of a newly energized base eager to fill his campaign coffers. It’s very slick politics, the mirror image of President Bill Clinton’s maneuvering when he signed the act in the first place to shore up his “family values” support for the 1996 election — but it’s anything but courageous.
If President Obama wants to show real courage, he has the power to do so. The president has the opportunity to use his bully pulpit to call for legislative repeal of this unjust, unconstitutional law an effort that would be greatly strengthened by his joining with conservatives like former Vice President Dick Cheney, Olson and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman in declaring his support for full marriage equality. Until that happens, this president’s gesture is symbolism without substance.
R. Clarke Cooper is the executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans. He is a former diplomat from the Bush administration. A combat veteran from the Iraq campaign, he currently serves as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Credit: The Daily (www.thedaily.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment